April 23, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Junior Elixane Lechemia from the No. 28-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team became just the fifth Gamecock in school history to earn All-SEC First Team accolades, the league office announced Wednesday.
“Eli has been our most improved player since arriving in January of 2013,” head coach Kevin Epley said. “She has had some rough patches but has tirelessly pressed forward. We couldn’t be happier how she finished the regular season. She is definitely getting attention within the conference. Still, she has not hit her ceiling and we look for her to continue to improve into next year.”
Lechemia rose to No. 67 in the national singles rankings this week. Lechemia gained her first career singles ranking on March 25 at No. 117 and has since moved to No. 98, No. 84 and now No. 67. The Lyon, France, native leads the team in total singles victories with a 21-10 mark. She has one of the squad’s best records in duals as well at 15-6 and she is 11-5 playing No. 1 singles. Lechemia also owns two straight-set victories this year against Mary Anne Daines from SEC regular-season champion and third-ranked Alabama. Daines is ranked 65th this week.
Lechemia also jumped up in the doubles rankings to No. 27 from No. 43 with Dominika Kanakova. Lechemia began the season playing No. 1 doubles with Meghan Blevins but then teamed up with Kanakova in late February once Kanakova returned from an injury. The duo is 9-4 this year at No. 1 doubles and tied a school record by winning seven SEC matches at the top spot. In the team’s last outing against Alabama in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, Lechemia and Kanakova posted an 8-4 victory against Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe, who were ranked No. 7 at the time and are now No. 4.
Lechemia and Kanakova appear to have a good possibility of being selected for the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship this year. Selections for the singles and doubles tournaments will be released the day after the team announcements that are set for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. It would mark the first individual NCAA appearance for Lechemia and the second for Kanakova.
Lechemia now joins Anya Morgina (2011), Ana Marija Zubori (2009, 2010), Gira Schofield (2007) and Lynn-Yin Tan (1999) as the only first-team All-SEC selections in South Carolina history.
2014 SEC Women’s Tennis Awards
First Team All-SEC
Erin Routliffe, Alabama
Pleun Burgmans, Auburn
Alexandra Cercone, Florida
Brianna Morgan, Florida
Olivia Janowicz, Florida
Silvia Garcia, Georgia
Lauren Herring, Georgia
Maho Kowase, Georgia
Georgiana Patrasc, Mississippi State
Elixane Lechemia, South Carolina
Cristina Stancu, Texas A&M
Frances Altick, Vanderbilt
Second Team All-SEC
Luicelena Perez, Alabama
Maya Jansen, Alabama
Emily Flickinger, Auburn
Sofie Oyen, Florida
Aldila Sutjiadi, Kentucky
Joana Vale Costa, LSU
Julia Jones, Ole Miss
Cierra Gaytan-Leach, Missouri
Eve Repic, Tennessee
Saska Gavrilovska, Texas A&M
Marie Casares, Vanderbilt
Georgina Sellyn, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman
Danielle Spielmann, Alabama
Erin Routliffe, Alabama
Sydney Campbell, Vanderbilt
Joana Vale Costa, LSU
Saska Gavrilovska, Texas A&M
Eve Repic, Tennessee
Player of the Year
Lauren Herring, Georgia
Freshman of the Year
Erin Routliffe, Alabama
Sydney Campbell, Vanderbilt
Coach of the Year
Jenny Mainz, Alabama
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Mary Anne Daines, Alabama
