No. 7 Carolina Drops a Heartbreaker to No. 2 Georgia, 4-2
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina senior Paige Cline defeated the nation’s No. 16-ranked singles player in Carolina’s tough, 4-2, loss to Georgia on Sunday afternoon at the Carolina Tennis Center.
After a nail-biter between the top-10 programs, the No. 7 Gamecocks dropped their first SEC match of the season and are now 10-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play. The No. 2 Bulldogs stay undefeated on the season at 13-0 and 5-0 in the SEC.
“Georgia was too tough (Sunday),” head coach Kevin Epley said. “We were fortunate to get the doubles point, but it’s tough to get a win when you lose most of the tough matches. It was nice that Paige got on the board. We fought hard. It wasn’t a bad showing by any stretch, but in the details we kind of lost our way a little bit in some critical moments. If we didn’t, we may have had a shot to win another match or two and that could’ve been the difference.”
Georgia struck first in doubles with Cline and Silvia Chinellato falling, 6-1, opposite of Elena Christofi and Vivian Wolff on court two.
At the No. 1 position, No. 7 Ingrid Gamarra Martins and Mia Horvit cruised to a, 6-2, victory against No. 74 Katarina Jokic and Lourdes Carle, winning their fifth-straight match.
With two doubles courts split, all eyes were on Megan Davies and Kennedy Wicker at the No. 3 spot. Competing against Meg Kowalski and Marta Gonzalez, the Gamecocks found themselves down, 2-1. Going back-and-forth with the Bulldogs, the teams were locked at 4-4. Davies and Wicker took two games in-a-row for a, 6-4, win, clinching Carolina’s seventh-consecutive doubles point.
On court three singles, No. 99 Horvit faced off with No. 92 Carle. Horvit was not able to overcome the Bulldog, dropping her match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, and evening the overall match, 1-1.
No. 49 Cline blanked No. 16-ranked Gonzalez in the first set, 6-0, at the No. 2 position. In the second set, Cline held a, 5-3, lead over the Bulldog. Gonzalez showed fight, trying to make a comeback against Cline, tying the set, 5-5. Cline then won two games in-a-row, taking her match, 6-0, 7-5, and giving the Gamecocks the, 2-1, advantage.
Seeing No. 35-ranked Wolff on court four, Davies fell in her first set, 6-3. Davies went up, 2-0, early in her second set before trading games back-and-forth with Wolff until they were knotted at 6-6. Davies was not able to pull it out in the tiebreaker, losing her match, 6-3, 7-6 (3), and bringing the overall score to 2-2.
Chinellato took an easy first set against Christofi at the No. 5 spot, 6-0. The Bulldog then went on to win the second set, 6-3. Putting up a fight in the third set, Chinellato kept it close in the beginning, but ultimately fell to Christofi, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3. Finishing almost just seconds after Davies, Georgia took a, 3-2, lead against the Gamecocks.
On court six, Wicker dropped her first set to No. 95 Kowalski, 6-2. In what looked like was going to be the match-clincher for Georgia, Wicker was trailing, 5-1, in her second set. Wicker grinded out six-straight games against her ranked opponent, claiming the second set, 7-5, and forcing a third. Wicker and Kowalski exchanged every other game for the first four, sitting at 2-2 in the final set. Kowalski proved to be too much for Wicker, falling in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, bringing the final score to, 4-2, Georgia.
Competing simultaneously with Wicker as the last two courts on, No. 9 Gamarra Martins was fighting with No. 1-ranked Jokic in what would be an abandoned match, 7-5, 1-6, 5-5, at the No. 1 position. Gamarra Martins was down, 5-3, in her first set against the nation’s top player. She then won four games in-a-row, taking the first set, 7-5. Jokic allowed Gamarra Martins just one point in the second set, winning, 6-1, and sending the match to a third set. In the final set, Gamarra Martins was down, 5-1, again to Jokic. Not sure who would finish their third set first between courts one and six, Gamarra Martins turned on the jets for four-consecutive game wins, tying it, 5-5, and proving her No. 9 singles ranking.
“Ingrid was fighting hard, coming back at the end there,” Epley said. “I think she was on track to get that match. We just needed to be a little bit more disciplined on some of the other courts and we may have turned it around. Credit Georgia. They were too competitive and too tough down the stretch.”
Up next, the Gamecocks hit the road for a pair of matches. First, they see No. 4-ranked Vanderbilt on Friday, March 22 at 5 p.m. Then, Carolina plays No. 21 Kentucky at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 24.
Continue to check back with gamecocksonline.com for more updates or follow the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).
