March 27, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 34 South Carolina women’s tennis team suffered a 4-1 loss Sunday at the USC Field House in Columbia, S.C., to No. 29 Ole Miss, snapping a five-match winning streak for the Gamecocks. The Rebels improved to 9-6 and 2-4 in the SEC with the win, while Carolina fell to 11-5 and 3-3 in the conference.

“I really didn’t think our effort was lacking today,” South Carolina head coach Arlo Elkins said. “I think we’re working hard in practice, and we worked hard in these matches here today, so it has to be something else. So, if it’s not the effort that we’re putting in you have to look at what it is and I really think the way the matches turned out today, when every one of these matches got close, their girls looked more determined than ours did. I think we really have to look at our determination and we have to start getting mentally tougher in these tight matches.”

The Gamecocks faltered in the doubles point, losing the first and second positions. At one, Kristi Boxx and Abby Guthrie defeated Dominika Kanakova and Dijana Stojic 8-3. After they finished, South Carolina had leads of 7-5 on court three and 7-6 on court two. Ole Miss, however, fought off multiple match points on court three in getting back to 7-all and eventually Caroline Rohde-Moe and Vivian Vlaar took an 8-7 lead over the South Carolina duo of Katerina Popova and Madeleine Saari-Byström.

Before the No. 3 doubles match could play out, however, the Rebels managed to take court two. With a 7-6 lead, Anya Morgina and Miljana Jocic could not secure the victory for Carolina, and Connor Vogel and Gabby Rangel ran off three straight games to give Ole Miss a 1-0 lead heading to singles. The loss ended a streak of four consecutive victories for Morgina and Jocic at No. 2 doubles.

Morgina got the match back to 1-all with a straight-set win against Boxx on court one. The junior’s 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 27-ranked Boxx marked Morgina’s third win of the month against a player ranked among the nation’s top 30. Morgina has won six matches in a row and now stands 20-9 overall for the season and 5-1 in SEC play at the No. 1 position.

The next three matches went to Ole Miss to give the Rebels the victory. Rohde-Moe finished next with a 6-1, 6-4 triumph over Popova on court three, followed by Vogel beating Stojic at two singles in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to put the Rebels on top 3-1. Laura van de Stroet provided the clinching point for Ole Miss at the No. 4 position, coming back to upend Saari-Byström 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.

Play at Nos. 5 and 6 was suspended once the Rebels won in order to accommodate Ole Miss’s travel arrangements. At five, Kanakova led Guthrie 5-2 in the first set, while Vlaar held a 4-2 advantage over Adriana Pereira at No. 6 singles.

South Carolina hits the road for its next two SEC matches, first playing No. 14 Vanderbilt on Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET and then Kentucky on Sunday at Noon ET.

Singles
1. #41 Anya Morgina, USC, def. #27 Kristi Boxx, UM, 6-2, 6-4
2. Connor Vogel, UM, def. #103 Dijana Stojic, USC, 6-4, 6-2
3. Caroline Rohde-Moe, UM, def. Katerina Popova, USC, 6-1, 6-4
4. Laura van de Stroet, UM, def. Madeleine Saari-Byström, USC, 5-7, 6-0, 6-2
5. Dominika Kanakova, USC, vs. Abby Guthrie, UM, 5-2 susp.
6. Adriana Pereira, USC, vs. Vivian Vlaar, UM, 2-4 susp.

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2, 4

Doubles
1. #21 Boxx/Guthrie, UM, def. #34 Kanakova/Stojic, USC, 8-3
2. Vogel/Gabby Rangel, UM, def. Miljana Jocic/Morgina, USC, 9-7
3. Popova/Saari-Bystrom, USC, vs. Rohde-Moe/Vlaar, UM, 7-8 susp.

Order of Finish: 1, 2