Feb. 24, 2012

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 26 South Carolina women’s tennis team improved to 6-1 Friday with a 6-1 victory over College of Charleston (3-3) at the USC Field House in Columbia, S.C.

The Gamecocks earned a sweep of all three doubles positions. At the No. 1 spot, Jaklin Alawi and Anya Morgina raced out to a 4-1 lead over Jamie Harrell and Irene Viana. After the Cougars cut the deficit to 4-2, Morgina and Alawi won four straight to close out the match with an 8-4 victory.

South Carolina’s No. 2 duo of Dominika Kanakova and Josefin Andersson fought their way to an 8-6 triumph over Kelly Kambourelis and Jenny Falcone to clinch the point. Andersson and Kanakova trailed 4-3 after seven games but managed to regain the advantage at the next changeover, 5-4. The two teams traded the next three games back and forth to make it 6-all before Andersson and Kanakova held serve and earned a break to take the match.

The final match on court three saw Adriana Pereira and Katerina Popova snag an 8-5 win from Samantha Maddox and Christin Newman. The Gamecocks led 5-2 after seven games, but Maddox and Newman countered to make the score 5-4. Pereira and Popova fought their way through the next two games to earn a 7-4 lead at the changeover. After Pereira lost her serve, the Gamecocks earned a break in the next game to complete the doubles sweep.

The Gamecocks picked up two quick points in singles to lead 3-0 thanks to Morgina and Alawi at positions one and two. Alawi finished first, coasting by Kambourelis 6-1, 6-2, while Morgina snatched a 6-2, 6-2 triumph against Christin Newman to remain undefeated this spring at 6-0 on court one.

Kanakova provided the fourth point for South Carolina with a straight set victory at No. 3 singles. After leading Caroline Newman 5-3 in the first, Newman came back to knot the score at 5-all, but Kanakova regained control and took the set 7-5. In the second, Kanakova had no problem scoring a 6-1 win to give the Gamecocks’ their sixth victory of the season.

Carolina received its next point from Popova, who battled her way through three sets. After losing the first set 6-4 to Samantha Maddox at No. 4 singles, Popova fell behind 4-1 in the second before mounting a comeback to lead 5-4. Once the match went to 5-all, Popova closed out the set 7-5 to force a super tiebreaker. In the breaker, Popova lost the first two points but went on to win nine of the next 11 rallies for a 9-4 lead. Popova closed out the match with a 10-7 victory.

At five singles, Andersson defeated Falcone 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), coming back from a 4-2 hole in the second set. The Cougars took the final match on court at No. 6 between Carolina’s Dina Guzairova and Katie Lee. Lee won the first set 6-1 and had a 4-0 lead in the second before Guzairova won six straight games to force a super tiebreaker. Lee hung on for a 10-5 win in the breaker.

South Carolina will return to the courts Sunday when it hosts Winthrop at 1 p.m.

Singles
1. #29 Anya Morgina, USC, def. Christin Newman, CofC, 6-2, 6-2
2. #59 Jaklin Alawi, USC, def. Kelly Kambourelis, CofC, 6-1, 6-2
3. Dominika Kanakova, USC, def. Caroline Newman, CofC, 7-5, 6-1
4. Katerina Popova, USC, def. Samantha Maddox, CofC, 4-6, 7-5, (10-7)
5. Josefin Andersson, USC, def. Jenny Falcone, CofC, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Katie Lee, CofC, def. Dina Guzairova, USC, 6-1, 4-6, (10-5)

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

Doubles
1. Alawi/Morgina, USC, def. Jamie Harrell/Irene Viana, CofC, 8-2
2. Kanakova/Andersson, USC, def. Kambourelis/Falcone, CofC, 8-6
3. Adriana Pereira/Popova, USC, def. Maddox/Christin Newman, CofC, 8-5

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3