Feb. 10, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 26-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team hits the road this weekend for matches at No. 53 Purdue on Saturday and No. 29 Illinois on Sunday.

The Gamecocks (3-1) split their two matches at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Miami on Jan. 29 and 30, losing to Arizona State on the first day and beating Florida International the second. The Sun Devils registered a 7-0 victory against South Carolina, but the Gamecocks came back the following day to defeat FIU 5-2. Carolina earned victories from Madeleine Saari-Byström, Katerina Popova, Dominika Kanakova and Miljana Jocic in singles. In doubles, the Gamecocks won on courts one and three.

Purdue enters Sunday’s contest with a perfect 4-0 record after defeating Cincinnati, Marquette, Illinois State and Western Michigan. The Boilermakers sport one of the nation’s top-rated doubles teams at the moment with Mara Schmidt and Jennifer Rabot ranked No. 13. South Carolina and Purdue have little history with one another. The only other meeting between the two schools came in 1985, a 9-0 South Carolina win during head coach Arlo Elkins’ second year at the helm.

Illinois is off to a 2-4 start and also split its two matches at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Fighting Illini lost a tough 4-3 decision to No. 27 South Florida in the first round but bounced back with a 5-2 triumph over Iowa. Illinois has also beaten DePaul this season while losing to several other highly ranked teams including Tennessee (11), Notre Dame (13) and Virginia (25). Like Purdue, The Fighting Illini also possess a highly touted doubles team with Rachael White and Allison Falkin at No. 15. South Carolina and Illinois met for the first time last year in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks won 4-3 in a match that came down to No. 1 singles.

Both matches figure to showcase some strong doubles play. The Gamecocks have one ranked doubles team with Anya Morgina and Kanakova at No. 37, however, the two are not currently playing together. Instead, South Carolina has paired Kanakova with Dijana Stojic at No. 1 doubles and the duo has posted a 3-0 record thus far. Overall, Stojic and Kanakova are 6-1 dating back to the fall. Percentage-wise, Kanakova has the team’s best doubles record as an individual with an 11-2 mark. Morgina has been successful playing with fellow Russian Popova in doubles at the third position and the two are 3-1 together.

In singles, South Carolina has been strong at virtually every position. Stojic, who is ranked 93rd, is 2-2 on court two after going 18-6 at the position a year ago. Saari-Bystöm is 3-1 at No. 3 singles and is tied with Jocic for the most wins on the team with 11. Popova and Kanakova have each played the No. 4 spot twice, with Popova going 1-1 and Kanakova 2-0. Most recently, Popova has held the No. 4 position and Kanakova is playing five. At six, South Carolina has used both Josefin Andersson and Jocic. Jocic is 2-0 at six and Andersson has played a couple matches at five as well.

The Gamecocks will return home following their weekend in Indiana and Illinois with a match against Winthrop on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m.