Women's Tennis . April 20, 2021

Gamecocks Advance at SEC Tournament With 4-1 Win Over No. 22 Vanderbilt

South Carolina Faces No. 2 Seed Florida on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET in Tuscaloosa

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The No. 27 South Carolina women’s tennis team defeated No. 22 Vanderbilt on Tuesday in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at the Alabama Tennis Stadium.

The seventh-seeded Gamecocks improved to 11-10 overall with the win, while the No. 10-seeded Commodores dropped to 13-9. South Carolina will next face No. 2-seeded and 13th-ranked Florida on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET in the quarterfinals.

Doubles Recap

Mia Horvit and Megan Davies got on the board first for the Gamecocks at the No. 1 position. After falling behind early to Anna Ross and Holly Staff, South Carolina’s top duo began to roll and after getting a 3-2 lead heading to the changeover, they closed out the match winning the next three games to secure a 6-2 triumph.

South Carolina then turned to courts two and three looking for one more win to grab the doubles point. Silvia Chinellato and Emma Shelton delivered at the No. 2 spot, getting a timely break of serve against Marcella Cruz and Emma Kurtz with a 5-4 lead to win the contest 6-4.

The remaining match at No. 3 was suspended with Anessa Lee and Christina Rosca of Vanderbilt leading Elise Mills and Allie Gretkowski 5-4.

Singles Recap

South Carolina continued to play well in singles by taking the first sets on four of the six matches. Emma Shelton’s match at No. 3 singles with Anessa Lee was the last to finish its first set, as it went to a tiebreak that was dominated by Shelton 7-1 to put the Gamecocks in a commanding position.

Vanderbilt ended up getting the first point in singles to tie the match up at one apiece. Marcella Cruz used a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Allie Gretkowski to give Vanderbilt what ended up being its only win on the day.

Megan Davies answered back quickly on court two, taking care of Emma Kurtz 6-4, 6-1 to put the Gamecocks ahead for good. Shelton then made quick work of her second set with Lee to win 7-6(1), 6-2 to mark her sixth victory in a row and put Carolina in front 3-1.

Silvia Chinellato and Elise Mills both appeared as likely candidates to provide the clinching point having won their first sets. Chinellato hoped to close her contest with Anna Ross on court four with a 6-5 lead on her serve in the second set, but Lee managed to break serve and force a tiebreak.

Chinellato found herself with multiple match point opportunities in the tiebreak, the first coming at 6-5, but Ross managed to then take a 7-6 lead for a set point. From there, the two continued trading blows back and forth and were tied 9-all at the third changeover. Chinellato then seized control of the next two points and finished off the afternoon with an 11-9 victory in the tiebreak to propel her squad into the quarterfinals. Her final score registered as 6-4, 7-6(9).

While Chinellato fought her way to victory on court four, the other two matches at one and six were both in tiebreaks in the second set as well. Mia Horvit dropped her first set to Christina Rosca at one, but Horvit won the tiebreak 7-2 to force a third set that never got underway since the team outcome was decided soon afterward. On court six, Mills won the first set 6-4 and was tied up at 2-all in the tiebreak with Holly Staff when play was stopped.

Notes

The Gamecocks are competing in their 29th SEC Tournament and now have an all-time record of 26-27. They have advanced to at least the quarterfinals all but five times in the event.
South Carolina has won seven of its past eight matches.
The Gamecocks have won four straight against Vanderbilt and have knocked the Commodores out of the past two SEC Tournaments.
Mia Horvit now has 174 combined victories in her career, one shy of tying Jennifer Radman for sixth place on the Gamecocks’ all-time wins list.
Emma Shelton is currently riding a six-match unbeaten streak in singles.
Megan Davies captured her 80th career singles victory, making her the 18th Gamecock to reach the plateau.
Silvia Chinellato picked up her 140th and 141st career victories on the day, making her the 19th Gamecock to reach 140 total wins for her career.
Tuesday’s win was South Carolina’s sixth this season against a team with a higher ranking.
The Gamecocks won the doubles point for the 15th time in 21 matches this season and have won it 12 times in their past 15 contests.