Sept. 26, 2013
COLUMBIA, S.C. — All 10 members of the South Carolina women’s tennis team will travel to Greenville, S.C., for the 27th annual Furman Fall Classic that begins at 9 a.m. Friday with doubles play followed by singles at 1 p.m.
The tournament features eight teams in a flighted competition. Six teams competing in the tournament were ranked in the top 35 in the 2013 final ITA rankings: Alabama (11th), Clemson (13th), Vanderbilt (19th), Florida State (24th), Tennessee (31st), and South Carolina (34). The eight-team field also includes 11 singles players and six doubles teams ranked in the preseason rankings.
“There’s just something that’s a little different about being around SEC teams,” head coach Kevin Epley said. “Particularly, Alabama, there’s a certain spirit to them that they’re going to bring to Furman and it’ll be interesting for some of our younger ones to see that because we’re trying to move that same direction and the subsequent fight that spirit brings. Alabama, you have to beat them; they aren’t going to give you anything. We’re still in the process of learning how to stay on the court and stay in the point for long periods of time.
“Clemson’s got a ton of talent, Vanderbilt’s good, Tennessee; that tournament is stacked and we really get a good look at some of the other SEC competition and what they’re going to bring to the table. It’s one of the best tournaments I’ve seen as far as a fall tournament goes.”
The Gamecocks are coming off a successful opening weekend of play at the Tribe Invitational in Williamsburg, Va., where they claimed two singles titles and one doubles. Sophomore Ximena Siles Luna finished with an undefeated record on the weekend, going 3-0 in both singles and doubles. Siles Luna won all her singles matches in straight sets and did not drop a game in the finals against Caryssa Peretz of Virginia en route to the title. She combined with junior transfer Meghan Blevins to win her doubles flight.
“Ximena has made some extraordinary strides in the last year,” Epley said. “When she came here, she was backing up off the baseline and basically lobbing the ball, just pushing her serve in. Now, we’ve kind of helped her revamp her game. She’s being a lot more aggressive off of the serve and from her court positioning. She’s getting inside the baseline, but still got a lot of work in that regard. She has a tendency to want to wait for the ball rather than anticipate and move forward and take court away. But, she’s playing at a whole higher level than she was last year. It’s just a matter of working and engaging for her.”
Blevins posted a strong weekend, reaching the finals of her singles draw in addition to the doubles championship she earned with Siles Luna. She scored a big win against No. 58 Stephanie Nauta of Virginia in three sets in the semifinals of her flight before losing to No. 50 Cindy Chala from VCU in the finals. Blevins is ranked No. 109 this preseason.
Like Blevins, freshman Caroline Dailey also posted a 5-1 record for the weekend, suffering her one defeat in doubles playing alongside Elixane Lechemia. Dailey won her singles flight handily after surviving a three set match in the semifinals against Emma Devine from Oklahoma. In the finals, she coasted to a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Utah’s Luisa Garstner Da Rosa.
Freshman Brigit Folland had a solid opening weekend of play in her first collegiate tournament as well. The Bristol, United Kingdom, native snared wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals of her singles draw before taking a straight set loss to Shannon Hudson from Arkansas in the championship match. She reached the finals of her doubles flight as well with Dominika Kanakova to post a 4-2 combined record for the weekend. Kanakova did the same in winning the consolation draw of her singles flight.
“Going into the tournament, we felt like we had pretty good team spirit,” Epley said. “I felt like the girls were working really hard, and we were really curious to see what we would bring to competition against some of the better schools in Virginia. Pretty soon after the first day, a lot of coaches started talking about how different we were from last year in terms of the spirit of our team, the athleticism of our team and willingness to fight and compete. We had pretty good results and we’re really happy with the first competition. We’re definitely seeing progress in the team and some of the fruit of the work we’ve put in.”
Following the Furman Fall Classic, the Gamecocks will take part in the Duckworth Family Fall Classic hosted by Clemson over Oct. 4-6 at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center.
