COLUMBIA, SC—The South Carolina State men's tennis team came up short of knocking off SEC foe nationally-ranked No. 13 South Carolina in a 4-3 decision Thursday (April.15^th) at the Carolina Tennis Center.

The Gamecocks ranked at No. 13 in the Oracle/ITA Rankings this week improve to 13-8 overall, while the Bulldogs fall to 5-3.

"I am very proud of the way my guys played today against very good national-ranked South Carolina team," said head coach Hardeep Judge. "This team is young but work hard and we have to keep working to finish strong, heading into the MEAC Tournament next week."

South Carolina jumped out early capturing the doubles point 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 win. 

SC State played their best match this season in singles action earning wins at No. 3 spot with freshman Elyes Marouani def. No. 93 Toby Samuel (7-6, 3-6, 1-0); at the No. 4 spot junior Omer Berk Gorgun def. Jake Beasley (4-6, 6-4, 1-0) and Diego Arzaluz def. Thomas Brown (6-3,6-7,1-0) at the No. 5 spot respectively.

SC State returns to action on the road in non-conference matchups at UNC-Wilmington on Friday (April 16^th) at 2 p.m. and Furman on Sunday (April 18^th) at 1 p.m.  The Bulldogs captured the MEAC Regular Season Southern Divisional Title and will be the No 1. Seed heading into the MEAC Tournament April 23-24 in Norfolk, VA.

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