#54 Old Dominion (20-7) vs. #16 South Carolina (17-14) - NCAA First Round
Where: Raleigh, N.C. – J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center
When: Friday, May 3 – 1 p.m.
Live Stream: here
Live Stats: here
NORFOLK, Va. – The 54th-ranked Old Dominion men’s tennis team will hit the courts at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on Friday afternoon to face 16th-ranked South Carolina in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Match time is 1 p.m. on the campus of N.C. State.
A win for the Monarchs on Friday would put them into a 5 p.m. match on Saturday against the winner of 14th-ranked N.C. State and 57th-ranked UNC Wilmington in the regional final.
“We are excited to be here. Being in the NCAA Tournament is a privilege. South Carolina is a great team that made deep run in SEC Tournament. Our guys are excited to play the best in the country in the highest stage of college tennis,” said ODU Head Coach Dominik Mueller.
The Monarchs enter the tournament coming off a 4-1 win over 63rd-ranked Georgia Southern in the Sun Belt Championship on April 21. Freshman Connor van Schalkwyk leads the team in the spring with a 19-4 record, while sophomore Yanis Moundir sports a 16-2 mark at the No. 3 spot. Sophomore Cosme Rolland de Ravel is 15-6, while freshman Aryan Saleh is 12-8 and junior Codie van Schalkwyk is 11-9 in singles.
Doubles has the duo of Rolland de Ravel and Codie van Schalkwyk sporting a 14-0 mark at the two spot, Maxime Mareschal-Hay and Moundir are 12-4 at the three spot, while Jakob Cadonau and Connor van Schalkwyk are 8-1 at the top.
Connor van Schalkwyk was named Freshman of the Year and first team All-Conference singles, while he and Codie van Schalkwyk were first team All-Conference doubles selections. Rolland de Ravel was a first team pick in singles and in doubles with Cadonau, while Moundir was named to the second team All-Conference squad.
The van Schalkwyk brothers were selected to participate in the NCAA Doubles Championship to be held May 20-25 in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
South Carolina lost the SEC title match to 4th-ranked Kentucky 4-2 on April 21. They defeated 19th-ranked Alabama, 15th-ranked Mississippi State and 6th-ranked Tennessee all by 4-2 counts to advance to the final.
Casey Hoole and Toby Samuel are ranked 20th nationally in doubles and sport a 9-5 record. Samuel is ranked sixth nationally in singles with a 19-5 mark this spring, while James Story is 97th with a 12-10 record and Hoole is 101st sporting a 19-19 record.
Samuel and Hoole earned bids to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships as well. Samuel will be the fifth seed in the singles event, while he and Hoole earned at-large spot to the doubles tournament.
These teams have met three times in history with South Carolina winning the prior meetings. They last met in the NCAA Tournament in 2018 with South Carolina winning 4-1 at Wake Forest.