Feb. 27, 2014

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 42 South Carolina women’s tennis team opens SEC play this weekend hosting Missouri on Friday at 5 p.m. at the USC Field House and No. 9 Texas A&M at noon Sunday at Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C.

The Gamecocks enter league play with a 9-2 record following their non-conference schedule. South Carolina has won three straight after defeating South Carolina State, North Florida and William & Mary last week. Carolina’s two losses this season came at the hands of some top-notch competition in No. 3 Virginia and No. 15 Clemson. Both matches finished as 5-2 finals.

Several members of the Garnet and Black bring some impressive numbers heading into league matches led by senior Katerina Popova. The Moscow, Russia, native has won eight straight in singles and leads the team in dual match wins with a 9-1 record. Popova is 14-5 overall and owns a perfect 5-0 record playing No. 2 singles. She has also played matches at Nos. 1 and 3 singles this season. Popova also sports a perfect 8-0 record playing the No. 2 doubles court between two partners. She is ranked No. 90 this week in the latest ITA singles rankings.

Junior Meghan Blevins has caught fire this spring after an up-and-down fall campaign that saw her finish 4-7 in tournament play. She has won seven matches in a row and is a perfect 7-0 playing No. 4 singles. Her 8-1 record in duals is tied for the second most wins on the team and she is 12-8 overall. Blevins has also been productive in doubles with a 5-3 record in duals and her 13-6 record individually gives her the second most wins for the team.

Blevins’ classmate Elixane Lechemia currently owns a 14-6 record overall and she has gone 8-2 in dual matches playing Nos. 1, 2 and 3. Lechemia has played the most matches this spring at No. 1 singles, a spot where she has gone 4-1. She is a perfect 3-0 playing No. 2 singles. A native of Lyon, France, Lechemia is 12-6 in doubles and 5-2 in duals playing mostly with Blevins, although, the two competed with different partners last week.

Freshmen Brigit Folland and Caroline Dailey have each been key members in South Carolina’s lineup and both have 14 victories in singles. Folland has played higher in the lineup, never playing below the No. 3 spot, while Dailey has played on courts five and six. Folland is the highest ranked Gamecock at the moment, coming in at a career-high T-85th this week. She has the Gamecocks’ best record in doubles as well with a 14-4 mark and she is undefeated in duals at 7-0.

Sophomore Ximena Siles Luna has had a quiet run this spring, but still has one of the team’s best records in singles at 13-4 overall. She is 6-2 in duals and has split time at Nos. 4 and 5 singles but has been playing mostly on court five as of late. Siles Luna enters Friday’s match having won five of her last six match ups.

The Mizzou women’s tennis team went 1-1 in a pair of matches in Florida this past weekend. After a match against Central Florida was cancelled due to weather, the Tigers played both South Florida and Oakland on Sunday. Mizzou posted a 7-0 sweep over Oakland and suffered a 6-1 loss at the hands of South Florida. The Tigers are 3-6 this season and will play Wofford on Friday at 9 a.m. in Spartanburg, S.C., before facing the Gamecocks later in the day. South Carolina defeated Mizzou twice last year by 4-3 scores with the first meeting coming in the opening round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Ann Arbor, Mich., and then during conference play in Columbia, Mo. Last season was the first time the two schools have ever played one another.

Texas A&M improved to 6-2 by defeating No. 18 Baylor 4-3 in the Aggies’ only match last week. Sophomore Ines Deheza dropped her first set at three singles but came back to win as the last match standing to clinch A&M’s third top-20 win of the season. Head coach Howard Joffe will be going for the 100th victory of his seven-year head coaching career when the Aggies open SEC play at No. 5 Florida on Friday. A&M stunned the Gators in College Station, Texas, last year in the inaugural meeting between the teams and went on to tie Florida and Georgia for the SEC regular-season championship. South Carolina suffered a 5-2 loss to the Aggies in College Station last year. Sunday marks the 10th all-time meeting between South Carolina and Texas A&M, and the Gamecocks currently lead the series 7-2.

South Carolina will continue SEC play the following weekend when it hosts Florida at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 8, in its lone match for the week.