April 22, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senior Elixane Lechemia from the South Carolina women’s tennis team was named to the All-SEC Second Team, the league office announced Wednesday afternoon. It marks the second year in a row for Lechemia to earn a spot on an all-conference team, as she landed a first-team selection a year ago.

Lechemia is currently ranked No. 43 in the nation in singles, a new best for her career. She also stands at No. 81 in doubles with Hadley Berg and has been rated as high as No. 43 in doubles this season. Lechemia cracked the top 50 in singles for the first time in her career in late March and set a new best last week at No. 44 before moving up a spot this week to establish a new personal record again.

A native of Lyon, France, Lechemia is 14-9 in singles this season and has played every dual match this spring at No. 1 singles to the tune of an 11-8 record. In SEC play, she went 6-5 while also having two matches suspended where she had a lead on her opponent (Georgia and Kentucky). Lechemia went 18-9 in doubles matches to include a 7-4 record in SEC matches.

During the fall, Lechemia battled a shoulder injury that prevented her from playing in many tournaments, but she made the most of her appearance at the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional Championships in October. Lechemia reached the quarterfinals in singles while advancing to the doubles championship with Berg. The two entered the spring ranked No. 46 but are not currently playing doubles together.

Lechemia and the Gamecocks are waiting to see their names announced for the NCAA Tournament during the selection show airing on NCAA.com at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Lechemia hopes to make the NCAA Singles Championship field as well when it is announced the following day.

2015 SEC Women’s Tennis Awards

Player of the Year: Brooke Austin, Florida
Freshman of the Year: Brooke Austin, Florida
Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Emily Zabor, Alabama
Coach of the Year: Geoff Macdonald, Vanderbilt

All-SEC First Team
Maya Jansen, Alabama
Erin Routliffe, Alabama
Brooke Austin, Florida
Josie Kuhlman, Florida
Brianna Morgan, Florida
Lauren Herring, Georgia
Joana Vale Costa, LSU
Julia Jones, Ole Miss
Jasmine Lee, Mississippi State
Rachel Pierson, Texas A&M
Sydney Campbell, Vanderbilt
Astra Sharma, Vanderbilt

All-SEC Second Team
Yuliya Lysa, Arkansas
Pleun Burgmans, Auburn
Kourtney Keegan, Florida
Silvia Garcia, Georgia
Ellen Perez, Georgia
Kennedy Shaffer, Georgia
Aldila Sutjiadi, Kentucky
Skylar Kuykendall, LSU
Elixane Lechemia, South Carolina
Rutuja Bhosale, Texas A&M
Saska Gavrilovska, Texas A&M
Frances Altick, Vanderbilt
Courtney Colton, Vanderbilt

All-Freshman
Brooke Austin, Florida
Josie Kuhlman, Florida
Ellen Perez, Georgia
Kennedy Shaffer, Georgia
Arianne Hartono, Ole Miss
Astra Sharma, Vanderbilt