March 1, 2013

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The No. 43 South Carolina women’s tennis team suffered a 5-2 loss at No. 6 Texas A&M on Friday in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams and the first SEC match in school history for the Aggies. South Carolina dipped to 7-4 on the season while Texas A&M improved to 7-1.

The Gamecocks started strong, claiming the doubles point from the Aggies with wins on courts two and three. South Carolina’s No. 3 squad of Elixane Lechemia and Ximena Siles Luna dominated the sister duo of Ines and Paula Deheza by an 8-3 count to finish first. Josefin Andersson and Katerina Popova then posted an 8-5 triumph over Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar and Wen Sun on court two to secure the point. Andersson and Popova improved to 9-1 this spring with the win.

South Carolina nearly posted an upset on court one with the Gamecocks’ Jaklin Alawi and Dominika Kanakova taking on No. 11-ranked Stefania Hristov and Cristina Stancu. The Gamecocks held a 6-4 lead on the Aggies, but Hristov and Stancu bounced back to win two straight games, and the match eventually went to a tiebreaker. In the breaker, Alawi and Kanakova won the first four rallies and held a 6-3 advantage when play stopped because of Andersson and Popova clinching the point.

In singles, the Aggies proved too tough for the Gamecocks. No. 6 Sanchez-Quintanar picked up a 6-1, 6-2 decision over No. 69 Alawi on court one to even the score and Ines Deheza put Texas A&M ahead for good when she downed Andersson 6-1, 6-3 at No. 5 singles. Sun then beat Kanakova 6-3, 6-2 at No. 4 singles and Hristov provided the clinching point on court six with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Siles Luna.

With the match already in hand, two matches remained. No. 108 Popova took a 7-6 (7-4) win over No. 83 Stancu for the first set at No. 2 singles but then lost the second 6-3. The two played a super tiebreaker for the third set and Popova prevailed 12-10 to improve to 8-1 this spring, the top record for the Gamecocks in duals this spring. It also marked Popova’s first win against a ranked opponent in 2013.

The evening ended with the Aggies winning the No. 3 match between No. 67 Nazari Urbina and Lechemia. Urbina won the first set 6-2 and then faltered by a 6-1 count in the second. She recovered with a convincing 6-1 win to take the third set and handed Lechemia her first collegiate loss since becoming eligible for the Gamecocks last week.

South Carolina will continue SEC play at No. 71 Missouri on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET. The Gamecocks defeated Mizzou earlier this year by a 4-3 score in Ann Arbor, Mich., at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

SINGLES COMPETITION

	POS	SOUTH CAROLINA	TEXAS A&M	WINNER	SCORE	FINISH
	1	#69 Jaklin Alawi	#6 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar	Texas A&M	6-1, 6-2	1
	2	#108 Katerina Popova	#83 Cristina Stancu	South Carolina	7-6 (7-4), 3-6, (12-10)	5
	3	Elixane Lechemia	#67 Nazari Urbina	Texas A&M	6-2, 1-6, 6-1	6
	4	Dominika Kanakova	Wen Sun	Texas A&M	6-3, 6-2	3
	5	Josefin Andersson	Ines Deheza	Texas A&M	6-1, 6-3	2
	6	Ximena Siles Luna	Stefania Hristov	Texas A&M	6-4, 6-3	4

DOUBLES COMPETITION

	POS	SOUTH CAROLINA	TEXAS A&M	WINNER	SCORE	FINISH
	1	Alawi/Kanakova	#11 Hristov/Stancu	Unfinished	SC led 8-8 (6-3)
	2	Popova/Andersson	Sanchez-Quintanar/Sun	South Carolina	8-5	2
	3	Lechemia/Siles Luna	Deheza/Deheza	South Carolina	8-3	1