April 9, 2003

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The 21st-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team lost 5-2 Wednesday afternoon at No. 13 South Carolina. The Gamecocks won two of three doubles matches to capture the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead and then won four of six singles matches to send the Demon Deacons home with a 5-2 loss. Trent Brendon led Wake Forest with wins at both singles and doubles and became the Deacons' all-time winningest doubles player in school history as he broke the school record of 88 career doubles wins previously set by Raul Munoz in 2001.

Brendon teamed up with Mike Murray to stop South Carolina's Seth Rose and Carl Wermee 8-2 at No. 2 doubles and then rallied to defeat Wermee 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4 singles. Derrick Spice picked up the other singles victory for the Demon Deacons, coming back from behind to beat No. 56 Angelo Niculescu 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. Murray, David Bere and David Loewenthal all took their Gamecock opponents to three sets before falling.

Andrew Simpson, who has been out the last seven weeks with a broken foot, returned to the Wake Forest lineup for the first time, playing at No. 3 doubles with Loewenthal and losing 8-6 to South Carolina's Marcus Westman and Geraldo Knorr.

Wake Forest falls to 11-7 with the loss and South Carolina improves to 17-4 with the win. The Demon Deacons return to action on Saturday, April 12 when they travel to Raleigh, N.C. for their final regular season match at N.C. State, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

No. 13 SOUTH CAROLINA (17-4, 5-4) 5, No. 21 Wake Forest (11-7) 2

Doubles
No. 1: Angelo Niculescu/Tom Eklund (USC) def. Derrick Spice/Brett Ross (WFU), 8-6
No. 2: Mike Murray/Trent Brendon (WFU) def. Seth Rose/Carl Wermee (USC) 8-2
No. 3: Marcus Westman/Geraldo Knorr (USC) def. David Loewenthal/Andrew Simpson (WFU), 8-6

Singles
No. 1: #47 Seth Rose (USC) def. #49 David Loewenthal (WFU), 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 2: Derrick Spice (WFU) def. #56 Angelo Niculescu (USC), 1-6, 6-1, 6-2
No. 3: Marcus Westman (USC) def. David Bere (WFU), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
No. 4: Trent Brendon (WFU) def. Carl Wermee (USC), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
No. 5: Tom Eklund (USC) def. Mike Murray (WFU), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
No. 6: Ben Atkinson (USC) def. Brett Ross (WFU), 7-5, 6-4