South Carolina junior reaches national championship but falls short
.jpg "South Carolina tennis player Daniel Rodrigues played for NCAA championship on Friday, May 28, 2021.")
South Carolina’s bid for a second straight singles tennis champion came up just short Friday.
Florida’s Sam Riffice defeated the Gamecocks’ Daniel Rodrigues, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, in Division I singles national championship at Orlando, Florida.
“It was an amazing week. Being in the finals was amazing,” Rodrigues said. “I wanted to win so bad. That is one of the reasons I started struggling with my body. At the end of the day, it was a great week.”
Both players had to battle through high temperatures and Rodrigues said is body struggled from late in the first set on through rest of match. He was late to his postmatch press conference after having to get treatment.
With match tied at one set apiece, Riffice took control in the third by going out to a 3-1 lead. Rodrigues battled back to tie at 4-4 but Riffice finished out the match by winning the final two points to become the third national singles champion in Gators history.
“I played a great level in first set up until it was 5-0,” Rodrgues said. “After that, my body started giving up and the heat started getting to me. And I started really, really struggling.”
Rodrigues was the second straight Gamecocks’ tennis player to advance to the championship. Paul Jubb won the title in 2019. There was no championship in 2020 because of COVID-19. South Carolina is the first team with back-to-back finalists since 2004-05.
Rodrigues, from Portgual, was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2019 and first-team all-SEC selection in 2019 and 2021, the first Gamecock to earn multiple first-ream All-SEC honors since 1999,
Rodrigues went 26-7 this season and entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 2:21 PM.
