March 9, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The 35th-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team took a 7-0 loss in Gainesville, Fla., on Saturday to the No. 5-ranked Florida Gators. Carolina dropped to 8-5 on the year and 1-2 in SEC play, while Florida improved to 9-2 and 2-1 in the league.

Florida took the first doubles match with Lauren Embree and Brianna Morgan defeating Josefin Andersson and Katerina Popova 8-2 on court two. It was just the second loss of the spring for Andersson and Popova. The Gamecocks responded quickly, though, with Dominika Kanakova and Jaklin Alawi making short work of Alexandra Cercone and Sofie Oyen at the No. 1 spot, as they picked up an 8-1 victory to improve to 9-2 on the season.

The Gators still appeared to be in control of the doubles point with Caroline Hitimana and Olivia Janowicz leading Elixane Lechemia and Ximena Siles Luna 7-2 on court three when the No. 1 doubles contest finished. Lechemia and Siles Luna furiously came back to tie the match at 7-all. Florida, however, managed to earn a break of serve in the next game and then served out the next frame to take a 1-0 lead heading to singles play.

Florida used the momentum from doubles to push ahead quickly in singles play. No. 114 Morgan won first with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Kanakova on court four and No. 76 Danielle Collins defeated Siles Luna 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 singles to make the score 3-0. Soon afterward, No. 11 Oyen downed No. 69 Alawi 6-0, 6-2 at the second position to clinch the match for the Gators. No. 109 Janowicz followed with a 6-2, 6-1 triumph over Andersson on court six and No. 1-ranked Embree scored a 6-0, 6-2 win over No. 108 Popova at the top slot.

The Gamecocks nearly took the No. 3 singles match that finished last. No. 53 Cercone took the first set from Lechemia 6-4, but the Gamecock newcomer took the second 6-3 to force a third. The two played a super tiebreaker for the final set and Cercone managed to walk away with a 10-4 win to complete the Gators’ sweep of singles play.

South Carolina returns home to host No. 62 Tennessee on March 15 at 5 p.m. at Carolina Tennis Center in the first of four consecutive SEC matches in Columbia, S.C. The Gamecocks then welcome No. 9 Georgia to town for a 1:30 p.m. match-up on March 17.

SINGLES COMPETITION

	POS	SOUTH CAROLINA	FLORIDA	WINNER	SCORE	FINISH
	1	#108 Katerina Popova	#1 Lauren Embree	Florida	6-0, 6-2	5
	2	#69 Jaklin Alawi	#11 Sofie Oyen	Florida	6-0, 6-2	3
	3	Elixane Lechemia	#53 Alexandra Cercone	Florida	6-4, 3-6, (10-4)	6
	4	Dominika Kanakova	#114 Brianna Morgan	Florida	6-0, 6-0	1
	5	Ximena Siles Luna	#76 Danielle Collins	Florida	6-0, 6-1	2
	6	Josefin Andersson	#109 Olivia Janowicz	Florida	6-2, 6-1	4

DOUBLES COMPETITION

	POS	SOUTH CAROLINA	FLORIDA	WINNER	SCORE	FINISH
	1	Alawi/Kanakova	Cercone/Oyen	South Carolina	8-1	2
	2	Popova/Andersson	Embree/Morgan	Florida	8-2	1
	3	Lechemia/Siles Luna	Hitimana/Janowicz	Florida	9-7	3