April 20, 2012

OXFORD, Miss. — The No 28-ranked and sixth-seeded South Carolina women’s tennis team fell to No. 7-ranked and third-seeded Georgia by a 4-0 score Friday in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament in Oxford, Miss. The Gamecocks dropped to 15-8 with the loss while the Bulldogs improved to 20-3.

South Carolina will now look to earn an at-large bid to the 64-team NCAA Tournament, which begins with first- and second-round action May 11-12 at 16 campus sites around the country. The round of 16 and beyond will be held in Athens, Ga., over May 17-22. The field will be announced May 1 on a Web selection show on NCAA.com. Selections for the 64-person NCAA Singles Championship and the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship will be announced by no later than 6 p.m. on May 2 on NCAA.com. The singles and doubles tourneys run May 23-28 in Athens. The draw for the individual championships will be announced May 22.

“They played really well; I would like to congratulate Georgia,” interim head coach Katarina Petrovic said. “The difference between today’s match and yesterday was 180 degrees. We tried to play the same, we tried to stick to the game plan, but we were making too many unforced errors. We struggled in doubles and I think the girls were a little flat after doubles. They didn’t have enough energy to pull out the singles matches. Even though we tried to turn it around in the second sets in a few matches, unfortunately, these girls couldn’t finish their matches. We just have to work a little bit harder and get in better shape.”

South Carolina fell behind on all three courts in doubles and Georgia managed to take courts one and two. The Bulldogs first won court two with Chelsey Gullickson and Alina Jerjomina earning an 8-4 decision over Dominika Kanakova and Anya Morgina. Kate Fuller and Nadja Gilchrist provided the clinching point at the No. 1 spot by downing Dijana Stojic and Jaklin Alawi by an 8-2 count. The No. 3 match between South Carolina’s Josefin Andersson and Katerina Popova, and Georgia’s Maho Kowase and Lilly Kimbell was suspended with the Bulldogs leading 7-2.

Georgia wasted no time making the score 2-0 with Kimbell picking up a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Popova at No. 5 singles. Gilchrist provided the next point on court three by upending Kanakova 6-3, 6-3. Jerjomina sent the Bulldogs to the semifinals with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) victory against Adriana Pereira at No. 6 singles.

At the No. 1 position, Gullickson won the first set against Morgina 6-3, but Morgina held a 4-3 advantage in the second set when play was stopped. On court two, Kowase led Alawi 6-3 and 5-2. Fuller won the first set over Stojic at No. 4 singles 7-5, but Stojic had a commanding 4-1 upper hand in the second set when play was suspended.

Singles
1. #39 Anya Morgina, USC, vs. #7 Chelsey Gullickson, UG, 3-6, 4-3 susp.
2. #89 Jaklin Alawi, USC, vs. #59 Maho Kowase, UG, 3-6, 2-5 susp.
3. Nadja Gilchrist, UG, def. Dominika Kanakova, USC, 6-3, 6-3
4. #85 Dijana Stojic, USC, vs. #95 Kate Fuller, UG, 5-7, 4-1 susp.
5. Lilly Kimbell, UG, def. Katerina Popova, USC, 6-0, 6-0
6. Alina Jerjomina, UG, def. Adriana Pereira, USC, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4)

Order of Finish: 5, 3, 6

Doubles
1. Fuller/Gilchrist, UG, def. #37 Alawi/Stojic, USC, 8-2
2. Gullickson/Jerjomina, UG, def. Kanakova/Morgina, USC, 8-4
3. Josefin Andersson/Popova, USC, vs. Kowase/Kimbell, UG, 2-7 susp.

Order of Finish: 2, 1