March 24, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 34 South Carolina women’s tennis team returns to SEC play this week when it travels to Starkville, Miss., for a 3 p.m. ET match-up with Mississippi State on Friday. The Gamecocks then return home to host No. 29 Ole Miss on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

South Carolina (10-4, 2-2 SEC) snagged a pair of non-conference wins last week, beating No. 37 VCU by a 4-3 margin and College of Charleston 7-0. The win against VCU marked the third time this season the Gamecocks have dropped the doubles point and recovered to win the match. The sweep of the Cougars was South Carolina’s first of the year.

Mississippi State (2-8, 0-4 SEC) took last week off and has not played since taking a 6-1 loss at the hands of No. 56 LSU on March 13. The Bulldogs have fallen to No. 14 Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and No. 12 Arkansas in their other conference matches. MSU’s two wins this season came on consecutive days when they hosted Southern Miss and Troy in February.

Ole Miss (8-5, 1-3 SEC) earned a pair of victories in Las Vegas a week ago, downing No. 31 Arizona and No. 51 UNLV. The Rebels opened conference play with a 7-0 triumph at Kentucky, but lost three in a row to Vanderbilt, LSU and Arkansas. Ole Miss also has victories this season over Southern Miss, No. 33 SMU, Troy and Middle Tennessee State. Top-ranked Florida travels to Oxford, Miss., to play Ole Miss on Friday.

The Gamecocks will use the same lineup they featured during the second week of SEC play. Anya Morgina, ranked No. 41, will play at No. 1 singles and brings in a four-match unbeaten streak. Dijana Stojic is ranked 103rd and holds down No. 2 singles with a five-match winning streak. At three is Katerina Popova, followed by Madeleine Saari-Byström, Dominika Kanakova and Adriana Pereira. In doubles, Stojic and Kanakova, ranked 34th, will play court one as they have all season. Morgina and Miljana Jocic occupy the No. 2 doubles position and Popova will team with Saari-Byström at three.

Mississippi State’s lineup lists Alexandra Perper on court one followed by Mariia Ryzhova at the No. 2 spot. The Bulldogs have Danielle Terpko on court three, Olesya Tsigvintseva at four, Vivian Pietraroia at five and Roseline Dion at No. 6 singles. For doubles, Perper and Tsigvintseva join to form the No. 1 team for MSU, while Ryzhova and Jordan Zachary play No. 2 doubles. Terpko and Pietraroia play on court three.

Ole Miss’s one ranked player in singles is No. 27 Kristi Boxx, who plays at the top of the lineup. Connor Vogel plays on court two, Caroline Rohde-Moe is at three, Laura van de Stroet plays four, Abigail Guthrie is on court five and Vivian Vlaar plays No. 6 singles. Boxx and Guthrie are ranked 21st in doubles at the No. 1 spot, while Vogel and Rangel play two. Rohde-Moe and Vlaar are the No. 3 doubles team.

South Carolina owns a 21-1 edge in the all-time series with Mississippi State with all 21 wins coming consecutively. The Gamecocks lost the first match-up between the two schools 5-4 in 1989. The Gamecocks have not surrendered more than a point to MSU in the last five meetings. The Gamecocks have a 13-12 edge versus Ole Miss and have won seven straight over the Rebels. During those seven victories, South Carolina has won four of the contests by 4-3 margins, including last year’s match in Oxford. Dating back to 2001, Carolina has won 11 of 12 versus Ole Miss.

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