April 10, 2005
Columbia, S.C. – The University of South Carolina women’s tennis team defeated the 22nd-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday 4-3 at the Maxcy Gregg Tennis Facility. The win improved the Gamecocks to 12-6 on the season and to 6-4 in SEC play while the Bulldogs dropped to 11-5 and 5-5 in conference play.
The Gamecocks jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by taking two of the three doubles contest. The 13th-ranked duo of Zsuzsanna Fodor and Anastasia Kugakolova defeated Carolina’s Danielle Wiggins and Miranda Gutierrez 8-2 at the top doubles spot. At No. 2 doubles, Fallon Koon and Christyn Lucas rallied from a 5-3 deficit to defeat Tarryn and Hayley Rudman 8-5. Megan McGavock and Magda Wojdylo clinched the doubles point for the Gamecocks with an 8-5 win at three over Magdi Rekasi and Polini Kokoulina.
In singles, 18th-ranked Zsuzsanna Fodor tied the match up with a 6-3,6-1 win at one over Danielle Wiggins. Megan McGavock put USC up 2-1 with her 6-2,6-2 win over Magdi Rekasi at six. Fallon Koon, a native of Irmo, S.C. put the Gamecocks up 3-1 with a 6-4,6-3 win at five. Mississippi State would then rally at No. 2 and No. 3 singles to even the match up at three.
Mississippi State’s Renee’ Joseph trailed 4-0 but rallied to defeat Magda Wojdylo 7-5,6-3 at four to cut the USC lead to 3-2. Tarryn Rudman dropped her first set at three 6-4 to Miranda Gutierrez but Rudman took the next two stanza’s to even the overall score at three. The match would be decided by the No. 2 singles match in between South Carolina’s Christyn Lucas and Mississippi State’s Anastasia Kugakolova.
Early in the first set Lucas trailed 5-4 but took the final three games to take the first set 7-5. In the second set, Lucas trailed 3-2 but would take the next three games to go up 5-3. Kugakolova rallied to even the score in the set at five but Lucas would take the final two games to clinch the match for Carolina. It was the second consecutive match that Lucas clinched the victory for USC with her match being the last to finish.
Prior to the match, USC honored their three seniors: Audrey George, Fallon Koon, Magda Wojdylo. Audrey George is a walk-on from Aiken, S.C. while Koon is a native from Irmo, S.C.. Wojdylo came to Carolina from Krakow, Poland. The Gamecocks will return to action on Tuesday, April 12th when they travel to face Francis Marion at 2:00 P.M. in Marion, S.C. After the match with the Patriots, the Gamecocks will conclude their regular season schedule against Florida in Gainesville on Saturday, April 16th.
Doubles:
1. #13 Fodor/Kugakolova (MSU) d. Gutierrez/Wiggins (SC) 8-2
2. Lucas/Koon (SC) d. Rudman/Rudman (MSU) 8-5
3. McGavock/Wojdylo (SC) d. Rekasi/Kokoulina (MSU) 8-5
Order of Finish: 1,2,3
Singles:
1. #18 Zsuzsanna Fodor (MSU) d. Danielle Wiggins (SC) 6-3,6-1
2. #94 Christyn Lucas (SC) d. Anastasia Kugkolova (MSU) 7-5,7-5
3. Tarryn Rudman (MSU) d. Miranda Gutierrez (SC) 4-6,6-3,6-2
4. Renee’ Joseph (MSU) d. Magda Wojdylo (SC) 7-5,6-3
5. Fallon Koon (SC) d. Polina Kokoulina (MSU) 6-4,6-3
6. Megan McGavock (SC) d. Magdi Rekasi (MSU) 6-2,6-2
Order of Finish: 1,6,5,4,3,2
