SEATTLE – Opening the ITA Indoor National Championships at Seattle Tennis Club, No. 8 Stanford men's tennis suffered its first defeat of the season, 4-3, to No. 13 South Carolina. The Cardinal falls to 7-1 this season.
The Gamecocks took the doubles point with wins on courts two and three to take a 1-0 lead. Stanford dropped the opening point for just the second time this season.
The Cardinal responded with three consecutive singles wins to take a 3-1 lead. Timothy Sah and Max Basing picked up straight set wins on courts six and four for their fifth and 10th singles wins of the year, respectively. Arthur Fery won his team-leading 16th battle of the year, and his sixth in three sets, with a win over the nation's No. 14 player, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. It was his seventh ranked win of the year.
South Carolina responded with wins on courts two, three and five to complete the comeback and advance in the tournament.
Stanford will face the loser of No. 2 Tennessee and No. 12 Texas A&M on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 9 a.m.
No. 13 South Carolina 4, No. 8 Stanford 3
DOUBLES
1) Fery/Geller (STAN) led No. 7 Rodrigues/Thomson (SCAR), 5-4 uf
2) No. 55 Beasley/Samuel (SCAR) d. Rotsaert/Sridhar (STAN), 6-2
3) Lambling/Story (SCAR) d. Kopczynski/Sah (STAN), 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
1) No. 1 Arthur Fery (STAN) d. No. 14 Daniel Rodrigues (SCAR), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
2) Toby Samuel (SCAR) d. No. 38 Alexandre Rotsaert (STAN), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
3) No. 97 Connor Thomson (SCAR) d. No. 74 Axel Geller (STAN), 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
4) No. 49 Max Basing (STAN) d. Raphael Lambling (SCAR), 6-2, 6-3
5) James Story (SCAR) d. Sangeet Sridhar (STAN), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
6) Timothy Sah (STAN) d. Jake Beasley (SCAR), 6-3, 6-4
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 1, 2, 3, 5