May 12, 2002
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The second time around was not the charm as the South Carolina Gamecocks (17-8) were unable to defeat the Virginia Commonwealth Rams (19-2). The Rams advance to the NCAA Round of 16 after defeating the Gamecocks 4-1 in Columbia, SC.
VCU jumped out to a quick lead as they took the doubles point. VCU’s No.1 doubles pair of Andrea Ondrisova and Martina Nedelkova made quick work of Carolina’s Jennifer Radman and Kathy Boyanovich, winning 8-2. No. 2 doubles didn’t come as easily for the Rams, who were only able to win 8-6.
“We knew we had to get the doubles point and we didn’t,” said Carolina Head Coach Arlo Elkins. “After losing the doubles point, were weren’t out, but it was going to be an uphill battle.”
In the singles competition, South Carolina’s Ayako Suzuki, playing in place of the injured Tamara Sutton at No. 6, raced through her match, earning a 6-0, 6-0 victory and scoring the Gamecocks’ lone point of the match. VCU won two tough matches at No. 1 with Andrea Ondrisova winning 6-3, 6-3 over South Carolina’s Katarina Markovski, and at No. 3 with Silvia Urickova winning 6-2, 6-4 against Kathy Boyanovich.
At No. 2 doubles, Martina Nedelkova was able to escape with the clinching victory over USC’s Jennifer Radman 6-0, 7-5 (7-5). Radman, down 5-1 in the second set, was able to come back to a 6-5 deficit and force a tiebreaker. “It’s disappointing,” commented Jennifer Radman. “I’m advancing on to Stanford to compete individually, but I wish the team would have been able to go on too, but that isn’t going to happen. It’s disappointing that we didn’t win, but it has been a great experience overall.
With the completion of this season, South Carolina graduates four seniors: Katarina Markovski, Jennifer Radman, Lynn-Yin Tan, and Tamara Sutton. “It’s always tough this time of year for the players and the coaches,” commented Elkins. “We’ve been a big part of their life and we hate to see them leave. This group [of seniors] has won more singles and doubles matches than any other group at South Carolina and they will be hard to replace.”
VCU advances to the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships Round of 16 at Stanford University and will face Duke on May 16th at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium in Palo Alto, California.
