Sept. 17, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina women’s tennis team opens the 2014-15 season Friday in Williamsburg, Va., at the Tribe Invitational hosted by William & Mary. Nine teams will compete at various sites in Williamsburg.

Head coach Kevin Epley will travel four Gamecocks to the event in sophomores Hadley Berg and Megen Cochran and freshmen Ingrid Gamarra Martins and Rachel Rohrabacher. Doubles action begins at 9:30 a.m. as the Gamecocks battle Dartmouth before a singles matchup with West Virginia looms in the afternoon. The Gamecocks will square off with William & Mary, Maryland and Marshall on Satuday before facing Dartmouth once more on Sunday.

South Carolina last played in the Tribe Invitational in 2013 when senior Ximena Siles Luna and junior Caroline Dailey won singles titles in their respective flights. A sophomore at the time, Siles Luna went 6-0 during the weekend and also took home the doubles title. As a freshman, Dailey took third in doubles while winning her singles flight with a decisive 6-0, 6-1 victory in the title match.

Berg and Cochran look to build off promising freshman campaigns. Last season, Berg won a combined 45 matches between singles and doubles, going 20-11 in singles and 25-15 individually in doubles. Rotating between No. 4-6, she aims to pick up where she left off after winning her last three singles matches of the season, including both NCAA Tournament matches. Berg also combined with Dailey to form the No. 33 ranked doubles team. Cochran was primarily used as a doubles specialist throughout last spring, going 17-5 during her freshman season, including 4-2 in SEC play at No. 3.

Rohrabacher and Gamarra Martins enter the fray as two of five freshmen from the SEC’s top recruiting class last year. Rohrabacher, a blue chip recruit by TennisRecruiting.net, and Gamarra Martins, a native of Brazil, aim to make their impact on the program early.

Coming off their 21st-consectuive NCAA Tournament appearance, the Gamecocks return six letterwinners from last year’s squad, which finished 15-11. While Epley returns the majority of his lineup from last season, he also added five freshmen to the roster that he expects to make an impact early on. The Gamecocks will play in five tournaments this fall before dual-match play begins in January.