Women's Tennis . January 22, 2021

ITA Kickoff Weekend in Atlanta Next Stop for Gamecocks

South Carolina Faces No. 12 Georgia Tech on Saturday at 10 a.m.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 14 Gamecock women’s tennis team is headed to Atlanta for the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Gamecocks will face host and 12th-ranked Georgia Tech on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex. No. 6 Duke and No. 22 Michigan will play in the second match of the day at 2 p.m. with the winners and losers of each contest facing off Sunday.

The team winning both matches in Atlanta will qualify for the National Women’s Team Indoor Championship Presented by Oracle and hosted by Oklahoma State over Feb. 5-7 at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Okla. Seven schools are hosting four-team regions for the ITA Kickoff Weekend and the winners will join Oklahoma State for the eight-team National Indoor Championship.

Last Time Out

After beginning the season with a pair of wins over ETSU and Coastal Carolina as part of a doubleheader, the Gamecocks suffered their first defeat of the season Wednesday in Columbia, S.C., at the hands of No. 8 NC State to fall to 2-1.

South Carolina faltered in the doubles point, losing first on court two and then on court three. At one, South Carolina’s Mia Horvit and Megan Davies had a 5-3 lead on the nation’s No. 2-ranked tandem of Anna Rogers and Alana Smith, but play was suspended once the point was decided.

In singles, South Carolina managed to win just one court with Emma Shelton defeating Jaeda Daniel in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-5). The Wolfpack took straight set decisions on courts one, two, five and six, and Adriana Reami came back to down Silvia Chinellato in three sets to give NC State a 6-1 victory. It marked the Wolfpack’s first victory in Columbia against the Gamecocks, as they entered the contest with an 0-8 record in the series.

Gamecock Notables

South Carolina will compete in the ITA Kickoff Weekend for the fifth season in a row, and this year marks the first time since 2017 the Gamecocks will be on the road for the event. The Gamecocks hosted a region for three straight years from 2018 to 2020 and advanced to the National Indoors in two of those three opportunities.
Last season, South Carolina defeated Purdue by a 4-0 score in the opening round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Columbia, S.C., but fell to Georgia Tech 4-1 in the championship match the next day.
The Gamecocks have competed in the ITA Kickoff Weekend, which began in 2009, nine times prior to this season. South Carolina is 10-8 in the event and has won at least one match in it eight times.
South Carolina will be heading to Atlanta for the ITA Kickoff Weekend for the second time in its history, as the first came in 2012. That year, the Gamecocks scored a 4-1 win over William & Mary in the first round before losing to Georgia Tech 4-0 the following day.
Head coach Kevin Epley is in his ninth season with the Gamecocks and will look to record his 300th career win this season. Epley currently has a 289-126 mark in 17 seasons as a head coach at three schools. Epley has amassed a 138-67 record as South Carolina’s head coach and boasts an impressive 62-33 record in regular-season SEC play. He led the Gamecocks to their first SEC title in 2019 when South Carolina captured the SEC Tournament after finishing the regular season with a 12-1 record.
Mia Horvit is closing in on history this spring, looking to join the 100-win club in singles. She currently owns an 90-39 record in singles and is in ninth place all-time. She needs just two more to tie Brigit Folland (2013-17) for eighth place. Only three Gamecocks have reached 100 victories with Rita Winebarger (1984-88) leading the way at 127 followed by Ana Marija Zubori (2006-10) with 109 and Lynn-Yin Tan (1998-02) at 103.
The Gamecocks ended the 2020 season riding a five-match winning streak that saw their overall record move to 8-4. They began SEC play with a 4-0 record after wins against Auburn, Alabama, Texas A&M and LSU. Georgia was the only other undefeated team in league play with a 3-0 record when the season was lost due to the pandemic.
Both Mia Horvit and Silvia Chinellato elected to use the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to play one more season after their senior years were cut short by COVID-19. Horvit is a two-time All-American and has been a member of the All-SEC Team three years in a row. She was named the UTR/ITA National Player of the Week just days before the 2020 season was postponed and later canceled. Chinellato was off to a hot start in SEC play last season with a 4-0 singles record and a 3-1 mark for doubles. She was ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation for doubles alongside Emma Shelton last spring.
Since the SEC began crowning a regular-season and tournament champion in 2000, only four teams have won the SEC Tournament. South Carolina became the fourth in 2019, joining Florida, Georgia and Vanderbilt as the only teams to win the event.
South Carolina has won 20 or more matches each of the past three full seasons, a first in school history. In total, the Gamecocks won 64 matches from 2017 to 2019.
Consistency is the name of the game, and South Carolina has certainly been one of the most consistent programs in the country for decades. Currently, the Gamecocks have made the NCAA Tournament 25 seasons in a row. Overall, South Carolina has competed in 29 of the 38 all-time NCAA Tournaments, advancing to the quarterfinals three times (1982, 2009, 2019) and the round of 16 nine times (1982, 1983, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019). Carolina has also finished the season ranked among the top-25 a total of 25 times.

About Georgia Tech

The Yellow Jackets return six from last season’s squad that posted a 15-6 overall record and 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference mark before the season was cut short due to the pandemic. In addition to its returners, Tech welcomed a highly-respected recruiting class, earning a No. 2 ranking by Tennis Recruiting Network, to the roster. Georgia Tech got its season underway at the Bulldog Invitational in Starkville, Miss., over Jan. 16-17 and then played a dual match against Memphis on Jan. 18 while it was there. Tech defeated Memphis 7-0 in the contest.

The Georgia Tech Series

Georgia Tech leads the all-time series with the Gamecocks by a 5-4 margin after defeating South Carolina last season. Tech has won five in a row over the Gamecocks dating back to the 2002 season after South Carolina took the first four in the series between 1985 and 2001. South Carolina is 1-2 versus Georgia Tech in Atlanta with the lone win coming in 2001.

About Duke

The Blue Devils opened the season hosting the Duke Winter Classic over Jan. 10-12 before defeating Charlotte 7-0 in its lone dual match this season Jan. 14. Duke also competed at the UNC Invitational against NC State on Jan. 16, winning five of seven doubles matches over the Wolfpack and four of seven in singles. The Blue Devils ended the 2020 campaign with an 11-2 record and were ranked No. 10 in the ITA’s last poll before the season was canceled.

The Duke Series

Duke holds an 18-9 advantage in the all-time series with the Gamecocks and currently is on a nine-match winning streak over South Carolina. The two teams last met in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in Orlando, Fla., in 2019 in a match that went to Duke 4-1. South Carolina’s last victory over Duke came in Columbia, S.C., by a 5-4 score April 11, 1995. South Carolina won seven consecutive matches over Duke between 1979 and 1983. Since then, the Blue Devils are 17-2 versus South Carolina.

About Michigan

Michigan competed Jan. 16-18 for the first time during the 2020-21 academic year, hosting the Michigan Invitational. Freshmen Kari Miller, Merri Kelly and Gala Mesochoritou each compiled a 3-0 singles mark, with senior Bella Lorenzini and sophomore Nicole Hammond each going 2-0. On the doubles court, graduate student Chiara Lommer and freshman Jaedan Brown combined for a 3-0 record. The Wolverines’ match with Duke marks their first dual match of the season.

The Michigan Series

South Carolina and Michigan have a somewhat limited history, although, the two teams have played in the ITA Kickoff Weekend once before in 2010 in Fayetteville, Ark., and the Wolverines won 4-3. Michigan leads the all-time series with the Gamecocks 4-3 and has claimed the last three matchups, two of which ended in 4-3 margins. South Carolina’s last victory over Michigan came in 2006 by a 6-1 count in a neutral site contest in College Park, Md.