Feb. 23, 2007
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ON TAP THIS WEEK: South Carolina’s women’s tennis team faces a pair of tough matches on the road when it travels to No. 40 N.C. State for a noon contest Saturday before taking on rival and 12th-ranked Clemson the following day at 2 p.m. on the Tigers’ home courts.
VERSUS THE OPPOSITION:
N.C. State
Overall: 11-1
Home: 8-0
Away: 2-0
Neutral: 1-0
Last: W, 6-1, 2003
Clemson
Overall: 22-18
Home: 11-7
Away: 7-8
Neutral: 4-3
Last: W, 4-3, 2006
Note: No location was found for a 1978 match between N.C. State and South Carolina.
ABOUT N.C. STATE: The Wolfpack currently hold an ITA ranking of 40th and are 6-2 on the year. N.C. State has won its last three contests against SMU, Rice and Yale. The Wolfpack also owns victories over Penn State, UNC Wilmington and Gardner-Webb. Its two losses came against Florida International and Arkansas. One N.C. State player, Daria Petrovic, is ranked among the current ITA rankings at No. 99.
ABOUT CLEMSON: South Carolina’s biggest rival stands 12th in the country with a 6-2 record that includes victories against VCU and UCLA, which are rated 14th and 15th in the latest rankings. Clemson’s first loss this year was versus Notre Dame by a 5-2 score at the ITA National Indoor Championships. The Tigers were defeated 6-1 by No. 16 Georgia in their last match. Carol Salge is the highest ranked singles player for Clemson at 44th, followed by Ani Mijacika at 47th, Estefania Balda at 84th and Federica van Adrichem at 91st. Salge and Mijacika are 12th in doubles, Maria Brito and Alexandra Luc are 32nd as a pair, Salge and van Adrichem are No. 45 and Mijacika and van Adrichem are 55th when playing doubles together.
SOUTH CAROLINA’S LAST MATCH: South Carolina’s women’s tennis team moved to 5-0 this season with a 7-0 triumph over South Carolina State on Sunday at the USC Field House in Columbia, S.C. The Bulldogs saw their record drop to 1-2 with the loss. The doubles matches were over in less than 45 minutes, as the Gamecocks surrendered just one game between the three contests. Laura Ganzer and Miranda Gutierrez registered an 8-1 victory against Rocio Juarez and Anna Subenkova to finish first on court three. Christyn Lucas and Natasa Vuckovic then downed Gisel Brito and Vesna Popac at the No. 2 position, and Gira Schofield and Ana Marija Zubori ended the doubles with a win over Mirian Cruz and Marcela Rodezno at one doubles. Things did not get easier for the Bulldogs in singles. After the first four matches finished, the Gamecocks gave South Carolina State just five games. Zubori and McGavock were both 6-0, 6-0 winners playing one and four singles versus Cruz and Brito. Vuckovic provided USC’s fourth point by ousting Rodezno 6-1, 6-1 at the second slot. Ganzer took care of Popac playing the No. 3 spot to put South Carolina on top 5-0. The remaining two matches saw Gutierrez score a 6-1, 6-1 triumph from Iveta Blodniece at five singles, and Lucas posted a 6-0, 6-1 decision against Juarez at six. “We’ve got some tough matches coming up,” Gamecock head coach Arlo Elkins said. “We took care of business today, and I was glad to see that happen. Of the five matches we’ve played, four were against NCAA teams from last year, and now we’re ready to step up the level of competition we face to an even higher degree.”
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE ALL-AMERICA: All-America teams are awarded in tennis for singles and doubles play. No voting takes place, so the teams are decided based on the following criteria:
Singles
1. Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Tournament, or
2. Reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles Tournament, or
3. Finish in top 20 of final ITA rankings
Doubles
1. Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Tournament, or
2. Reach quarters of NCAA Doubles Tournament, or
3. Finish in top 10 of final ITA rankings
GAMECOCKS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: South Carolina made its 12th-straight appearance in NCAA play in 2006 and its 16th overall. USC is 15-16 in the tournament. The Gamecocks appeared in the first two tournaments in 1982 and 1983 and reached the quarterfinals in ’82, which remains the best showing in school history. The Gamecocks have reached the Sweet 16 five times, with their last appearance coming in 1999. In addition to USC making the NCAA field 12 times in a row, the school has won 12 of its past 13 first-round matches.
IT’S ALL ABOUT CONSISTENCY: South Carolina extended its streak of consecutive NCAA appearances to 12 in 2006, which stands as the 11th longest active streak in the country.
OFF TO A FAST START: The Gamecocks are off to a 5-0 start this season, having lost just one singles match and two doubles matches. South Carolina’s best start in the Arlo Elkins era is 10-0, which happened in 1999 when the team finished with an 18-8 record and reached the NCAA Sweet 16. The 1999 squad also ended the year ranked 12th, the second-best during Elkins’ tenure. Carolina’s best start in school history came in 1980 when current Gamecock men’s assistant coach Jeff Kefalos led the women to a 22-0 record heading into the AIAW National Championships in Baton Rouge, La.
IN THE RANKINGS: South Carolina is currently ranked 34th in the latest ITA rankings and has been as high as 33rd. Individually, sophomore Gira Schofield and freshman Ana Marija Zubori are rated No. 41 as a doubles team. Schofield started the fall ranked No. 39 and classmate Natasa Vuckovic was 93rd. The two were ranked as a doubles team during the fall as well at 37th.
NCAA TEAM HISTORY: The Gamecocks have appeared in NCAAs 16 times in the event’s 25-year existence. USC’s best showing came in the first NCAA Championship in 1982 when it reached the quarterfinals after defeating Florida. South Carolina has made a total of five Sweet 16 appearances with the last coming in 1999. USC has made the tournament field 12 consecutive times and gone to at least the second round 12 times in a row.
NCAA INDIVIDUAL HISTORY: South Carolina has placed either a singles competitor or doubles team in 19 of 25 NCAA Individual Tennis Championships. Laura Berstein remains the only Gamecock to advance to the round of 16 in singles, doing so in 1983 in Albuquerque, N.M. In doubles, Helen Crook and Victoria Davies are the only USC duo to go as far as the semifinals, which happened in 1994 in Athens, Ga. Last year, Gira Schofield became just the second USC freshman to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship.
