May 9, 2003
Durham, N.C. – USC advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament by defeating Pennsylvania 4-3 on Friday morning at Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C. The Gamecocks improved to 14-10 on the season while the Quakers dropped to 15-6. The win was the 10th consecutive opening round victory for the Gamecocks in the NCAA Tournament.
“We had a good effort in singles from everybody on the team,” said USC Head Coach Arlo Elkins. “We don’t look for people to win every match but give forth the effort every match. Jodi has been coming through all year and when we needed her the most she did it again. Magda Wojdylo is another player who stepped up. She hasn’t been feeling well this week but she stepped up to give us a boost. We just have to continue to play as well as we can and put forth 110% effort in all of our matches.”
South Carolina took an early 1-0 lead in the match by clinching the doubles point. The number three doubles team of Justine Walsh and Catherine Brown upset the 55th ranked pair of Nikki Ptak and Raluca Ciochina 8-5. Kathy Boyanovich and Jodi Kenoyer clinched the point for the Gamecocks with a 9-7 win at number one doubles over Pennsylvania’s Raluca Ciulei and Alicia Pirsu. The win for Boyanovich tied her for fifth all-time in career double wins at USC. At number two doubles, Magda Wojdylo and Danielle Wiggins were leading 8-7 when play was suspended since the doubles point had been clinched.
In singles, it went down to the wire for the Gamecocks to pull out the 4-3 victory. Alice Pirsu, ranked 23rd in the country picked up the win at number one singles by defeating Boyanovich 6-2 in the first set and up 1-0 in the second set when Boyanovich retired. Wiggins put the Gamecocks up 2-1 by winning at number three singles over Ciulei 6-1,6-1. Stanislawski of Penn defeated Brown 6-3,6-0 at number five to tie the match and then Ciochina put the Quakers up 3-2 with a 6-1,6-0 win over Walsh at number six. Wojdylo tied the match at three all with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Chao at four singles. The match came down to the number two singles.
Senior Jodi Kenoyer battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the third set to win 6-3 to clinch the match. Kenoyer defeated Ptak 6-3 in the first set but dropped the second set 6-2. It was the third match this season, that USC has played where it came down to the final match played.
“We got a huge boost by winning the doubles point and winning that point gave us some good confidence going into singles because we only needed three more points,” said Jodi Kenoyer. “Winning four single matches against a very good Penn team is difficult so we were very happy to get the doubles point. We knew that would be a key and that made the difference in the match. In singles, Magda Wojdylo and Danielle Wiggins came through for us and then it came down to my match. I knew it was going to be a battle for every point and all of the games went to the distance in that third set. I’m excited about winning and getting a chance to advance to the next round.”
USC is now 12-0 on the season when they win the doubles point. The Gamecocks return to action on Saturday at 4 p.m. to face the winner of the Duke-Winthrop match. South Carolina is 3-10 all-time against the Blue Devils while they have never faced Winthrop. Live updates can be found on www.goduke.com.
South Carolina(14-10) vs. Pennsylvania (15-6)
Doubles:
1. Boyanovich/Kenoyer (SC) d. Ciulei/Pirsu (Penn) 9-7
2. Wiggins/Wojdylo (SC) vs. Shweky/Chao (Penn) 8-7 susp.
3. Brown/Walsh (SC) d. #55 Ptak/Ciochina (Penn) 8-5
Singles:
1. #23 Alice Pirsu (Penn) d. Kathy Boyanovich (SC) 6-2, 1-0 ret.
2. Jodi Kenoyer (SC) d. Nicole Ptak (Penn) 6-3,2-6,6-3
3. Danielle Wiggins (SC) d. Raluca Ciulei (Penn) 6-1, 6-1
4. Magda Wojdylo (SC) d. Shelah Chao (Penn) 6-2,6-2
5. Caroline Stanislawski (Penn) d. Catherine Brown (SC) 6-3,6-0
6. Raluca Ciochina (Penn) d. Justine Walsh (SC) 6-1,6-0
Order of Finish:
Doubles: 3,1
Singles: 1,3,6,5,4,2
