Four players from the University of South Carolina dominated play during the South Carolina Men’s Collegiate Tennis Championships played October 2-4.  The weather caused the event to be moved from Belton to the indoor courts at Furman University.

Players competed for individual state titles in singles and doubles.  Forty-three players representing eight state teams participated, including Anderson University, Clemson, Citadel, Furman, Lander, Presbyterian, South Carolina and Wofford.

Thomas Mayronne defeated teammate Andrew Schafer in the finals of the Championship Singles 6-3, 6-4.  Mayronne and Schafer teamed together to win the doubles championship 7-6 over fellow Carolina players Yancy Dennis and Sam Swank.

Swank was named the recipient of the Big Jim Russell Award for sportsmanship.  Two Lander players competed in the finals of the Russell Singles Bracket.  Alexandre Springer defeated Liam Roos 7-5, 6-4 in the championship match.

Rex Maynard served as Tournament Director and said:  “We hated to move the event from Belton, but we only had 2 options, cancel it or find an indoor facility.  We appreciate Furman working with us to provide their four indoor courts.  They have a great facility, but with the limited number of courts we had late nights Friday and Saturday before finishing around 5:00 Sunday afternoon.  The players, coaches and officials were great to work with under difficult circumstances.  Everyone had to be patient, but we played a lot of tennis and everyone left happy.  I was very impressed with the quality of the tennis.  We have some great players on the collegiate level in the state.  The South Carolina players really played well.   Their 5 players only lost 7 matches over the weekend, and 3 of those losses were to other Gamecocks players.  Overall they won 15 out of 19 singles matches and 10 out of 13 doubles matches.  A 25-7 record is great against this competition!”

The tournament was presented by the Belton Tennis Association in memory of Jim Russell, a longtime tennis volunteer and official, and sponsored by AnMed Health, Chick-fil-A of Anderson and Dunlop.  Local volunteers assisting Maynard included Maxine LeCroy, Hack Clinkscales and Dupre Keys.