May 12, 2012

DURHAM, N.C. — The 30th-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of No. 3 Duke on Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C. Duke improved to 27-2 with the win and advanced to Athens, Ga., for the NCAA Championships, while South Carolina ended the 2012 season with a 16-9 record. The Gamecocks have competed in 18 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and won at least one round during those 18 matches.

“Congratulations to my team for making the top 32 in the NCAA Tournament,” interim head coach Katarina Petrovic said. “We had a tough year and this was a great result. We played well. Duke today was the better team and they deserved to win, and good luck to them. I thought in doubles, we fought well, but we didn’t execute at the net. We struggled a little bit with our serve. Overall, we played well, I just think they were better than us.”

South Carolina faltered in the doubles point, losing on courts one and three. At one, Jaklin Alawi and Dijana Stojic fell behind 4-0 to Ester Goldfeld and Mary Clayton before picking up a game. They managed to get the score to 5-2 before Goldfeld and Clayton won three straight games to close out the match with an 8-2 victory.

The Gamecocks’ Josefin Andersson and Katerina Popova were down 4-1 on court three to Hanna Mar and Annie Mulholland after winning the first game of the match. They trimmed the margin to 4-2 and held steady at 5-3, but Mulholland and Mar eventually closed out the contest with an 8-4 victory to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 advantage heading to singles play. Andersson and Popova ended the season as South Carolina’s most productive doubles unit with a 17-9 overall record and an 11-5 mark in dual matches.

At No. 2 doubles, Beatrice Capra and Rachel Kahan held a 4-0 advantage against Dominika Kanakova and Anya Morgina. Later, the Duke duo led 6-1 and was ahead 7-3 when the No. 3 doubles match decided the doubles point, suspending play.

Duke got its second point from the No. 4 singles position where Kahan defeated Kanakova in straight sets 6-1, 7-5. Goldfeld won next, fighting off a 4-3 deficit in the second set to upend Alawi 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 2 singles position. The final point came courtesy of Monica Turewicz on court six when she downed Adriana Pereira 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) to clinch the match for Duke. Pereira trailed 5-1 in the second set before mounting a comeback to make it 5-all and eventually force a tiebreaker.

At No. 1 singles, Capra held a 6-2, 5-2 advantage on Morgina when play was stopped. Mar had a 6-1, 4-2 upper hand on Stojic on court three, and Popova claimed South Carolina’s lone set on the afternoon. She beat Clayton 6-4 in the first, lost the second 6-0 and the match was tied 1-all in the third when play was suspended.

Singles
1. #45 Anya Morgina, USC, vs. #2 Beatrice Capra, DU, 2-6, 2-5 susp.
2. #110 Ester Goldfeld, DU, def. #88 Jaklin Alawi, USC, 6-3, 6-4
3. #72 Dijana Stojic, USC, vs. #59 Hanna Mar, DU, 1-6, 2-4 susp.
4. #85 Rachel Kahan, DU, def. Dominika Kanakova, USC, 6-1, 7-5
5. Katerina Popova, USC, vs. #66 Mary Clayton, DU, 6-4, 0-6, 1-1 susp.
6. #97 Monica Turewicz, DU, def. Adriana Pereira, USC, 6-2, 7-6 (7-1)

Order of Finish: 4, 2, 6

Doubles
1. #21 Goldfeld/Clayton, DU, def. #38 Alawi/Stojic, USC, 8-2
2. Kanakova/Morgina, USC, vs. #17 Capra/Kahan, DU, 3-7 susp.
3. Mar/Annie Mulholland, DU, def. Josefin Andersson/Popova, USC, 8-4

Order of Finish: 1, 3