Women’s Tennis Beats Alabama, 4-3

March 31, 2002

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The 24th-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team edged out a 4-3 road win at Alabama Sunday evening in a key intra-divisional SEC match up.

With the win, the Gamecocks improve to 13-4 overall and an impressive 6-2 in the SEC. Also with the win, USC improved to 6-0 against western division teams, sweeping the other half of the SEC schedule.

33rd-ranked Alabama lost their second straight SEC match with the loss to USC.

USC jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match by winning the all-important doubles point in nail biting fashion. All three doubles matches went to pro-set tiebreaks. Claiming two of the three doubles matches, the point proved to be the decisive swing in the overall match.

35th-ranked Jennifer Radman and Kathy Boyanovich won a thriller at No. 1 doubles, outlasting Millie Begovic and Weyli Chang 9-8. South Carolina won at No. 3 doubles by that same 9-8 score, as Katarina Markovski and Ayako Suzuki clinched the point with their win over Becca Baum and Selia Mathew.

The Gamecocks finished off the Crimson Tide in singles action, splitting the six matches, which was good enough to secure the road win. 101st-ranked Radman moved the margin to 2-0 with her 6-2, 6-2 whitewashing of Jenny Ketchum at No. 2 singles. After Alabama evened the match at 2-2 with wins at No. 4 and No. 3, 57th-ranked Markovski won a three-setter over Selia Mathew at No. 1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Needing just one more match to secure the win, senior Tamara Sutton stepped up with a clutch three-set win at No. 6 singles, downing Becca Baum 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. A very competitive match, three singles matches went to three sets in addition to the exciting doubles matches.

USC looks to remain hot when they return home to Columbia next Friday as the Gamecocks host Georgia in a huge SEC Eastern Division battle set for 2:00 p.m. at the Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center on the USC campus.

Match Results

No. 24 South Carolina 4, No. 33 Alabama 3

Doubles

1. (35) Radman/Boyanovich (USC) def. Begovic/Chang(UA) 9-8

2. Ketchum/Cremers (UA) def. (48) Tan/Kenoyer(USC) 9-8

3. Markovski/Suzuki (USC) def. Baum/Mathew(UA) 9-8

Singles

1. (57) Katarina Markovski (USC) def. Selia Mathew (UA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-4

2. (101) Jennifer Radman (USC) def. Jenny Ketchum (UA) 6-2, 6-2

3. Millie Begovic (UA) def. (98) Kathy Boyanovich (USC) 6-3, 7-6

4. Sophie Cremers (UA) def. Lynn-YinTan (USC) 6-4, 6-1

5. Weyli Chang (UA) def. Jodi Kenoyer (USC) 6-3, 0-6, 7-6