April 23, 2014
Junior Elixane Lechemia is currently ranked a career-high 67th in singles and 27th in doubles with Dominika Kanakova.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina women’s tennis team looks strong in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings released this week, coming in at a season-high No. 28. It comes at the right time as well with the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Selection Show scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET Tuesday on NCAA.com. South Carolina is 16-10 overall and posted a 6-7 record in the SEC during regular-season play.
The Gamecocks finished the season on a high note after slipping to No. 65 in the March 25 rankings. South Carolina’s ascension began with victories against LSU and Arkansas, both ranked in the top 50 at the time of the matches. The following week, the Gamecocks scored a win at then-No. 24 Ole Miss to mark their first top-25 road victory since 2010. Carolina followed up with a triumph over Mississippi State and then returned home to snag a win against then-No. 30 Kentucky. The Gamecocks also captured another win against Ole Miss at the SEC Tournament and finished the year winning six of their final eight matches. With the exception of Mississippi State, the other wins all came against teams that are currently ranked in the top 60.
Individually, junior Elixane Lechemia rose to No. 67 in the national singles rankings this week. Lechemia gained her first career singles ranking on March 25 at No. 117 and has since moved to No. 98, No. 84 and now No. 67. The Lyon, France, native leads the team in total singles victories with a 21-10 mark. She has one of the squad’s best records in duals as well at 15-6 and she is 11-5 playing No. 1 singles. Lechemia also owns two straight-set victories this year against Mary Anne Daines from SEC regular-season champion and third-ranked Alabama. Daines is ranked 65th this week.
Lechemia also jumped up in the doubles rankings to No. 27 from No. 43 with Dominika Kanakova. Lechemia began the season playing No. 1 doubles with Meghan Blevins but then teamed up with Kanakova in late February once Kanakova returned from an injury. The duo is 9-4 this year at No. 1 doubles and tied a school record by winning seven SEC matches at the top spot. In the team’s last outing against Alabama in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, Lechemia and Kanakova posted an 8-4 victory against Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, who were ranked No. 7 at the time and are now No. 4.
Lechemia and Kanakova appear to have a good possibility of being selected for the NCAA Doubles Championship this year. Selections for the singles and doubles tournaments will be released the day after the team announcements. Last season, Kanakova and Jaklin Alawi made the field of 32 after holding a No. 35 ranking following the SEC Tournament.
Blevins and Katerina Popova also maintained a doubles ranking this week at No. 49. They entered the rankings on April 8 and then moved to No. 47 before landing at 49th in the latest edition. Blevins and Popova own victories this year against No. 37 Danielle Spielmann and Daines of Alabama, as well as No. 39 Ashleigh Antal and Sydney Campbell of Vanderbilt. Popova is also ranked No. 118 in singles.
