March 26, 2009
Up Next
The No. 40 Gamecock women’s tennis team (8-7, 1-3 SEC) will be in Starkville, Miss., on Friday to resume SEC play taking on the No. 61 Mississippi State Bulldogs (9-3, 0-3 SEC). South Carolina then turns around and heads home to host No. 35 Ole Miss (8-5, 1-3 SEC) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center. MSU began the year winning eight matches in a row but enters Friday having lost three of its past four contests. The Bulldogs lost to Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama in SEC play this year and defeated Louisiana-Lafayette 6-1 in the last outing. Ole Miss is 4-1 in its last five matches and owns a win over Alabama, a team currently ranked No. 17 in the nation.
Last Time Out
The Gamecocks rebounded from a tough loss at Florida International with a 5-2 victory over USF in Tampa, Fla., on March 22. South Carolina grinded out the doubles point with wins at the top two positions and then used victories at two, three, four and six singles to earn the victory. Dijana Stojic played at two, Natasa Vuckovic held the No. 3 spot, Miljana Jocic played four and Ashley Miller was at the bottom of the lineup.
Mississippi State Series History
The Gamecocks have dominated the series with Mississippi State. Since losing 5-4 to the Bulldogs in 1989 in the first meeting between the two schools, South Carolina has won 19 in a row over MSU. The Gamecocks won 6-1 over Mississippi State last year and won by the same score when the two last met in Starkville in 2006.
Ole Miss Series History
While Ole Miss has a 12-11 advantage in the all-time series with South Carolina, nine of the last 10 meetings have belonged to the Gamecocks. The matches tend to be close when the two square off, with six of the last 10 ending in 4-3 decisions. Last year in Oxford was one of those 4-3 scores that went to South Carolina. Ole Miss’ last visit to Columbia was not a pleasant experience, as the Gamecocks blanked the Rebels for the first time in the series.
