Women's Tennis Climbs To Season-High No. 11 In Latest ITA Polls
Feb. 20, 2018
ITA National Rankings
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina women’s tennis (5-3) climbed to a season-high No. 11 in the latest Oracle/ITA national rankings, it was announced Tuesday.
The Gamecocks, who received 43.27 average votes, were just .2 average votes shy of cracking the Top 10 for the first time since 2016. South Carolina is one of 10 SEC teams in the ITA’s Top 50, ranking fourth in the conference behind Ole Miss at No. 3, Georgia at No. 6 and Vanderbilt at No. 7.
While the Gamecocks did not play this past weekend, they spent the previous weekend at the ITA Indoor Championships. Facing three Top 16 opponents, the Gamecocks went 1-2 at the tournament, including a 4-2 win over No. 11 Texas for their first win over a ranked opponent this season. The team’s appearance at ITA Indoors was its first in the event’s current format, which began in 2009, and the first since the 1999-2000 season. It also marked the first career appearance at the event for head coach Kevin Epley.
“We weren’t expecting to be that high going into the first round of computer rankings, but we are always happy when we are in the Top 16,” Epley said. “There is a lot of tennis to be played and there will be lots of movement in the rankings moving forward. Our objective is to have everyone competing at the same level and I feel like we have a lot of upside left in us, so hopefully we can keep moving up the ladder.”
The ITA also announced its latest rankings in singles and doubles Tuesday. In singles, Hadley Berg leads the Gamecocks at No. 45 after reaching a career-high No. 38 singles ranking on Feb. 7. Ingrid Gamarra Martins earned a spot at No. 124 on the national list for the first time since Sept. 12 when she was ranked 28th.
Berg is 3-2 in 2018, with a 1-0 record at No. 1 singles and a 2-2 record at No. 2 singles. Her two losses this season came against the then No. 41 and No. 57 singles players in Texas’ Anna Turati and UCLA’s Jada Hart, respectively. Gamarra Martins holds a 4-1 overall record in 2018 at No. 3 singles, including her most recent win in straight sets against then No. 64-ranked singles player Petra Granic of Texas.
The doubles tandem of Silvia Chinellato and Megan Davies climbed four spots to No. 40 in the latest rankings. Chinellato and Davies make up one of 11 SEC doubles tandems in the Top 60, and rank fifth of those pairs.
The Gamecocks will look to build on their No. 11 team ranking this weekend when they host North Florida and Charleston Southern in a doubleheader beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday and in a match against Coastal Carolina at 1 p.m. Sunday. The Gamecocks are 15-0 all-time against those three teams combined (9-0 vs. North Florida, 3-0 vs. Charleston Southern, 3-0 vs. Coastal Carolina), and have yet to surrender a team point to the Chanticleers.
For updates on the Gamecocks, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).
