Jan. 30, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The No. 16 South Carolina women’s tennis team (1-2) suffered a 4-3 setback to No. 23 Washington (3-1) on Saturday in Fayetteville, Ark., in a consolation match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

South Carolina won the second and third doubles positions to win the doubles point against Washington. The first mach to finish, though, was at the No. 1 slot where the Huskies’ No. 11-ranked tandem of Denise Dy and Joyce Ardies upended Dijana Stojic and Ana Marija Zubori 8-2.

The Gamecocks then won on court two, as Josefin Andersson and Madeleine Saari-Byström cruised to an 8-3 triumph over Venise Chan and Samantha Smith. Miljana Jocic and Anya Morgina then clinched the point at three by beating Aleksandra Malovic and Lina Xu 8-5.

Washington responded by winning five first sets in the singles matches, losing only the first on court one. Third-ranked Dy finished first with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Stojic at two and Ardies held off Saari-Byström 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 singles to put the Huskies ahead 2-1.

Morgina gave the Gamecocks their second point with an incredible come-from-behind win at No. 3 singles against Xu. Morgina lost the first set 6-4 and trailed 3-0 in the second before closing the gap to 4-3. After tying the set at 4-all, she closed it out 6-4 and used the momentum to win 6-2 in the third.

Soon after Morgina’s victory, Andersson won handily in the third set over Ardies 6-1. Andersson won the first 6-4 before surrendering the second 6-3. Chan, ranked 11th, tied the team score at 3-all when she outlasted No. 38-ranked Zubori 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 in the No. 1 singles match.

Adriana Pereira of South Carolina led Malovic 2-1 in the third set on court six once Chan defeated Zubori. Pereira continued to lead at 3-2 until Malovic gained a 5-3 advantage with Pereira serving. Malovic had three match points in the ninth game that Pereira managed to fight off, and Pereira eventually held to make it 5-4. In the next game, though, Malovic won after going up 40-30 to complete the 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 triumph.

South Carolina is back in action Feb. 17 when it hosts Winthrop at 5 p.m. at the USC Field House.

#23 Washington (3-1) def. #16 South Carolina (1-2), 4-3

Singles
1. #11 Venise Chan, UW, def. #38 Ana Marija Zubori, USC, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
2. #3 Denise Dy, UW, def. Dijana Stojic, USC, 6-1, 6-3
3. #69 Anya Morgina, USC, def. Lina Xu, UW, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
4. Josefin Andersson, USC, def. Joyce Ardies, UW, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
5. Samantha Smith, UW, def. Madeleine Saari-Byström, USC, 6-4, 6-4
6. Aleksandra Malovic, UW, def. Adriana Pereira, USC, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4

Order of Finish: 2, 5, 3, 4, 1, 6

Doubles
1. #11 Ardies/Dy, UW, def. Stojic/Zubori, USC, 8-2
2. Andersson/Saari-Byström, USC, def. Chan/Smith, UW, 8-3
3. Miljana Jocic/Morgina, USC, def. Malovic/Xu, UW, 8-5

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3