Sept. 29, 2011
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Six members of the South Carolina women’s tennis team will head to Evanston, Ill., for the Wildcat Invitational hosted by Northwestern beginning Friday and ending Sunday.
Representing the Gamecocks at the event are Jaklin Alawi, Katerina Popova, Dominika Kanakova, Josefin Andersson, Adriana Pereira and Dina Guzairova. It marks the third consecutive weekend of fall tournament play for all six players.
2011 marks the fourth straight year South Carolina has participated in the Wildcat Invitational, which has seen the Gamecocks post some impressive results. In 2008, South Carolina topped all the participants with a combined record of 28-4, and the Gamecocks followed it up with a 22-7 showing in 2009. Last year, Carolina recorded a 17-5 mark to bring its three-year record in the event to 67-16 (.807).
“We do look for the same results we’ve had,” head coach Arlo Elkins said. “We have excelled at this tournament the past three years, and we would like to do the same this year. We are leaving behind two of our top players, Dijana Stojic and Anya Morgina, who will be travelling early next week to the ITA All-American tournament in Los Angeles. So, it’ll be a bit of a challenge for the other girls to step up into spots they haven’t played in this fall and hopefully they’ll be able to respond to that.”
Alawi will compete in the top singles draw at the Wildcat Invitational and Popova could possibly join her in the flight. Alawi, a junior transfer from Long Beach State, is off to a fast start for her Gamecock career, posting a 5-1 record in singles and a 4-2 mark in doubles. Alawi reached the finals of her flight at the Furman Fall Classic last weekend and recorded a win over the No. 31-ranked player in the country along the way. She and Stojic also snagged a win versus the No. 27-ranked doubles team. Popova owns records of 4-2 in both singles and doubles this year.
Kanakova is also off to a strong start for the fall campaign with records of 5-1 in both singles and doubles play. She took home third place in her flight at the Furman Fall Classic and placed third in the No. 2 flight of doubles at the event with Morgina. The duo is South Carolina’s one ranked doubles team this fall at No. 45.
Andersson hopes to keep her unbeaten record in singles in tact this weekend. She went 2-0 at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic and then followed it up by winning the No. 6 singles flight at Furman with a 3-0 record. Andersson has already equaled her win total from a year ago when she saw very limited action in the spring while still recovering from a torn Achilles suffered her freshman year against Clemson.
“I think I played better at Furman than I did in Milwaukee,” Andersson said. “I feel like I’m getting more and more confidence with every match I play. I did rehab the whole summer and toward the end, I started doing more conditioning and I started to play tennis. I feel like now when we came back and started to practice, everything has been a lot better. I feel like I’m good to go now.”
Guzairova also has an undefeated singles record at 5-0 and won the flight seven title at Furman. Pereira has been impressive this fall as well after seeing limited action a year ago because of a shoulder injury. She has a 5-1 singles mark and took third place in flight six at Furman.
South Carolina will use one new doubles combination at the Wildcat Invitational with Alawi and Kanakova teaming up for the top flight. Andersson and Popova will play together and are 3-2 this fall, while Guzairova and Pereira are 2-2.
