Berg/Cline Power Way to NCAA Round of 16

NCAA Championship Central | Photo Gallery

May 26, 2016

TULSA, Okla. – Sophomore Hadley Berg and freshman Paige Cline of the South Carolina women’s tennis team defeated Ohio State’s top tandem of sophomore Anna Sanford and junior Miho Kowase, 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (5) Thursday in the First Round of the NCAA Doubles Championship at Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla.

With the win, Berg and Cline become the first Gamecock tandem to advance to the Round of 16 since Kathy Boyanovich and Jennifer Radman in 2002. The 29th-ranked tandem will take on No. 8 Pleun Burgmans and Alizee Michaud of Auburn on Friday, looking to become just the second tandem in program history to reach the Quarterfinals of the event. Berg and Cline fell to Burgmans and Michaud twice this spring.

Both teams traded service breaks to get things started, but the Gamecocks would move in front and capture a big deuce point to take a 4-2 lead in the first set. Sanford and Kowase, ranked No. 9 in the nation, rallied to even the score at 4-4, but Cline was excellent at the net and guided the Garnet and Black to the 6-4 first-set victory.

The Buckeyes evened the score in the second set with a 6-1 victory, forcing a third-set super-tiebreaker. Cline and Berg jumped out to an early 4-2 advantage in the deciding frame, but Sanford and Kowase came back to tie the score at 5-5. It was all Cline and Berg from there as the duo displayed terrific chemistry and clutch shot-making en route to the impressive 10-5 super-tiebreak victory and their second win over a top-10 opponent this spring.

For updates, follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @GamecockWTennis, and stay tuned to www.GamecocksOnline.com.