April 5, 2014

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The No. 44 South Carolina women’s tennis team extended its SEC winning streak to four matches on Saturday with a 4-0 triumph over No. 75 Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss. The Gamecocks are now 14-8 and 5-6 in the league, while the Bulldogs are 9-12 and 1-10 in SEC play.

South Carolina controlled each of the three doubles matches from the outset. Meghan Blevins and Katerina Popova scored the Gamecocks’ first victory at the No. 2 spot by an 8-4 score against Roseline Dion and Timea Guibe. For the second match in a row, No. 54 Elixane Lechemia and Dominika Kanakova clinched the doubles point by downing No. 41 Alexandra Perper and Naomi Tran 8-4. When play was suspended, Caroline Dailey and Brigit Folland led Mississippi State’s Rosalinda Calderon and Georgiana Patrasc 7-5 at the No. 3 spot.

The Gamecocks received three dominant performances in the lower half of the lineup to earn the shutout of the Bulldogs. Blevins got things rolling on court four where she rebounded from a loss yesterday by surrendering no games to Dion to improve to 14-5 in dual matches and 13-2 at No. 4 singles. Her 14 victories in duals leads the team and her 18 overall wins is tied for the team’s top mark. Dailey came through soon afterward with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Tran on court five, giving her 18 wins as well. For the second day in a row, Ximena Siles Luna provided the clincher at No. 6 singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win versus Calderon.

The remaining matches on courts one, two and three all favored South Carolina when play stopped. At one, No. 117 Lechemia led No. 66 Patrasc 7-6 (7-5), 5-1, while Popova held a 7-5, 4-3 advantage over Perper at the second singles position. On court three, No. 122 Folland recovered from a 7-5 loss in the first set to Guibe to win the second 6-4 and she led 1-0 in the third.

The Gamecocks return home next week to close out the regular season hosting No. 28 Kentucky on Friday at 5 p.m. and No. 8 Vanderbilt on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Singles
1. #117 Elixane Lechemia, USC, vs. #66 Georgiana Patrasc, MSU, 7-6 (7-5), 5-1 susp.
2. Katerina Popova, USC, vs. Alexandra Perper, MSU, 7-5, 4-3 susp.
3. #122 Brigit Folland, USC, vs. Timea Guibe, MSU, 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 susp.
4. Meghan Blevins, USC, def. Roseline Dion, MSU, 6-0, 6-0
5. Caroline Dailey, USC, def. Naomi Tran, MSU, 6-2, 6-1
6. Ximena Siles Luna, USC, def. Rosalinda Calderon, MSU, 6-3, 6-1

Order of Finish: 4, 5, 6

Doubles
1. #54 Lechemia/Dominika Kanakova, USC, def. #41 Perper/Tran, 8-4
2. Blevins/Popova, USC, def. Dion/Guibe, MSU, 8-4
3. Dailey/Folland, USC, vs. Calderon/Patrasc, MSU, 7-5 susp.

Order of Finish: 2, 1