March 1, 2007
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Mississippi State Live Scoring | Mississippi Live Scoring
ON TAP THIS WEEK: The South Carolina women’s tennis team opens Southeastern Conference play Friday hosting Mississippi State at 2 p.m. at Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center. On Sunday, the Gamecocks welcome Mississippi to Columbia, S.C., at noon.
VERSUS THE OPPOSITION:
Mississippi State
Overall: 17-1
Home: 6-1
Away: 9-0
Neutral: 2-0
Last: W, 6-1, 2006
Mississippi
Overall: 9-12
Home: 4-5
Away: 4-5
Neutral: 1-2
Last: W, 4-1, 2006
ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE: The Mississippi State Bulldogs enter Friday’s match with a 4-3 record and two-match winning streak after downing UAB and Louisiana-Lafayette by 6-1 scores. Elna de Villiers leads the team in victories with a 16-12 record for singles play and is 5-2 in duals. Martina Banikova is 12-8 and 5-1 at the No. 1 singles position, while Tatiana Feit is 12-8 as well and undefeated at sixth slot with five victories.
ABOUT MISSISSIPPI: The Lady Rebels of Mississippi stand 4-6 after their first 10 matches and have lost four in a row heading into Friday’s contest at Florida. Three of Ole Miss’s losses, though, have been by 4-3 margins. Ilona Somers has the Lady Rebels’ top record in singles play thanks to an 11-6 slate that includes an 8-1 record playing at the top of the lineup. Soledad Podlipnik is 7-3 in dual matches having played at four and five singles.
SOUTH CAROLINA’S LAST MATCH: South Carolina’s women’s tennis team rebounded from a pair of losses over the weekend by defeating Marshall 6-1 on Wednesday at Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C. USC cruised in doubles, winning first at the No. 2 position with Christyn Lucas and Natasa Vuckovic defeating Thaddea Lock and Karolina Soor 8-1. Gira Schofied and Ana Marija Zubori picked up an 8-3 triumph against the 27th-ranked tandem of Lynzee Kever and Kellie Schmitt to clinch the 1-0 lead for Carolina. Laura Ganzer and Vanessa Pinto ended the doubles as 8-4 victors against Yulia Kashelkina and Jessica Keener. Following doubles, it took South Carolina a little more than an hour to put the match in the books. On court 3, Zubori blanked Kashelkina for her 19th win of the season. Vuckovic followed with a 6-3, 6-0 victory in her match with Kever at No. 4 singles, and Pinto grabbed the Gamecocks’ fourth point by dispatching Soor 6-0, 6-1 at the second slot. Schofield gave USC its fifth point of the day when she stunned the nation’s No. 28-rated player Schmitt at the top position. After holding on for a 6-4 victory in the first set, Schofield fell behind 2-0 in the second before winning six games in a row. Schmitt represents the third-highest ranked player Schofield has defeated in her career, as the sophomore posted victories against foes rated 12th and 15th a year ago. The Thundering Herd got on the scoreboard with a win on court 5. Lock went up 5-0 in the first set against Ganzer and held off a late charge by the senior to win 6-3. Ganzer recovered to win the second stanza 6-4 to force a super tiebreaker. Lock was up 8-5 in the breaker, but Ganzer managed to win the next two points to close the margin to one before losing the last two rallies. In the remaining match at the sixth slot, Lucas took a 6-3 decision from Jeanne Schwartz in the first set, but Schwartz came back with a 7-5 victory in the second. With not much light left in the day, the super tiebreaker saw Lucas race out to an 8-4 advantage heading to the second changeover. She went on to win 10-7.
ZUBORI CRUISING: Freshman Ana Marija Zubori has been untouchable in her last three singles matches, winning all of them by 6-0, 6-0 scores. In addition to her streak of 38 consecutive games won, Zubori has claimed 16 straight sets dating back to November. A freshman from Mulhouse, France, Zubori has gone 19-3 in singles and also owns a 15-5 slate in doubles.
SCHOFIELD SCORES A BIG WIN: Gira Schofield scored her best victory of the year so far when she defeated No. 28-ranked Kellie Schmitt of Marshall 6-4, 6-2 on Feb. 28. Schmitt was the third-highest ranked player the sophomore has defeated in her career, as Schofield beat foes rated 12th and 15th a year ago.
WHAT IT TAKES TO BE ALL-AMERICA: All-America teams are awarded in tennis for singles and doubles play. No voting takes place, so the teams are decided based on the following criteria:
Singles
1. Top 16 seed in NCAA Singles Tournament, or
2. Reach round of 16 in NCAA Singles Tournament, or
3. Finish in top 20 of final ITA rankings
Doubles
1. Top eight seed in NCAA Doubles Tournament, or
2. Reach quarters of NCAA Doubles Tournament, or
3. Finish in top 10 of final ITA rankings
GAMECOCKS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: South Carolina made its 12th-straight appearance in NCAA play in 2006 and its 16th overall. USC is 15-16 in the tournament. The Gamecocks appeared in the first two tournaments in 1982 and 1983 and reached the quarterfinals in ’82, which remains the best showing in school history. The Gamecocks have reached the Sweet 16 five times, with their last appearance coming in 1999. In addition to USC making the NCAA field 12 times in a row, the school has won 12 of its past 13 first-round matches.
IN THE RANKINGS: South Carolina is currently ranked 38th in the latest ITA rankings and has been as high as 33rd. Individually, sophomore Gira Schofield and freshman Ana Marija Zubori are rated No. 41 as a doubles team.
IT’S ALL ABOUT CONSISTENCY: South Carolina extended its streak of consecutive NCAA appearances to 12 in 2006, which stands as the 11th longest active streak in the country.
NCAA TEAM HISTORY: The Gamecocks have appeared in NCAAs 16 times in the event’s 25-year existence. USC’s best showing came in the first NCAA Championship in 1982 when it reached the quarterfinals after defeating Florida. South Carolina has made a total of five Sweet 16 appearances with the last coming in 1999. USC has made the tournament field 12 consecutive times and gone to at least the second round 12 times in a row.
NCAA INDIVIDUAL HISTORY: South Carolina has placed either a singles competitor or doubles team in 19 of 25 NCAA Individual Tennis Championships. Laura Berstein remains the only Gamecock to advance to the round of 16 in singles, doing so in 1983 in Albuquerque, N.M. In doubles, Helen Crook and Victoria Davies are the only USC duo to go as far as the semifinals, which happened in 1994 in Athens, Ga. Last year, Gira Schofield became just the second USC freshman to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship.
