March 12, 2016
COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 12 South Carolina women’s tennis pulled off another dramatic victory, fighting its way back after losing the doubles point and winning a pair of critical third sets to take a 4-3 victory over No. 19 Kentucky on Saturday at the Carolina Tennis Center. The win moves the Gamecocks to 12-2 overall and 4-0 in SEC play for the first time since 2003. The Wildcats fall to 11-4, 0-3 in the SEC.
The Wildcats struck first with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 in doubles, marking just the third time in 14 matches this season that South Carolina has dropped the doubles point. Wildcats Akvile Para?inskaitÄ- and Morgan Chumney defeated juniors Brigit Folland and Caroline Dailey at No. 2, while Nadia Ravita and Justina MikulskytÄ- topped senior Ximena Siles Luna and freshman Ingrid Gamarra Martins at No. 3.
The momentum stayed with Kentucky entering singles, where it took early leads on three courts. But, South Carolina put together a strong run of its own on the way to four first-set wins. Sophomore Hadley Berg was first off the court after capturing her 11th straight-set victory of the spring, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 4. Folland would follow a court over as she won a second-set tiebreaker to earn a 6-4, 7-6 (1) win that put the Gamecocks in front, 2-1.
The lead changes were just getting started. After a ranked win on Thursday, Dailey came up short in a hard fought battle with MikulskytÄ- at No. 1, 7-5, 6-4 to make it 2-2. Kentucky then went back in front as sophomore Mami Adachi upended Siles Luna, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6.
South Carolina’s six-match winning streak was left up to a pair of freshmen in the top half of the lineup. Cline and Martins won their first sets, before the Wildcats forced the matches to a third. Cline, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, nearly had her match locked up in the second set, dropping a tiebreaker 7-3. She responded, however, with perhaps her best set since January, earning a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-3 victory at No. 3.
With the score even at 3-3, Martins jumped out to a 4-2 lead in her third set before No. 42 Aldila Sutjiadi leveled the score at 5-5. Martins came up with a huge service break and then served her way to a 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory to clinch the match for the Gamecocks.
Quotable: Head Coach Kevin Epley
On his team’s performance this weekend:
“I have never been a part of two matches where we’ve been that far out of it and come back to win against teams that good. We could have written the obituary on us in both of these matches — the Vanderbilt match on Thursday and this one for sure. They had us on the ropes. They beat the heck out of us in doubles and got on a bit of a run. Luckily, our four and five held down the ship. I’m a little bit in disbelief at how much heart these girls showed in these last two matches. “
On having two freshmen step up at the end:
“You’ve got two freshmen playing two veteran players, who are at least juniors. You’ve got two freshmen playing at the top of the lineup, and they both lose the second set. They come back and step up in the third set at the critical times. That’s been the story of this year. As we said before the match started, we are writing the story of this year right now. We’ve still got a long ways to go, but we just added another chapter.”
Match Changer
Third-set wins by freshmen Paige Cline and Ingrid Gamarra Martins propelled the Gamecocks from a 3-2 deficit to the 4-3 win.
Notables
- 12-2 is South Carolina’s best start since 1999.
- The Gamecocks are 2-0 against top-10 teams and 5-0 against top-30 opponents this season.
- South Carolina dropped the doubles point for the just the third time this spring in 14 matches.
- Carolina is a combined 23-2 in the No. 4 and 5 spots of the singles lineup this spring.
- Sophomore Hadley Berg is perfect in her first 12 singles results, capturing 11-of-12 matches in straight sets.
- Junior Brigit Folland has racked up eight straight victories en route to an 11-1 spring record.
Up Next
Carolina is on the road for the first time in SEC play as it travels to No. 28 Mississippi State on Fri., March 18, at 4 p.m., and to No. 27 Ole Miss on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Gamecocks pulled out close victories against both squads last season, defeating the Bulldogs, 4-3, and the Rebels, 4-2.
