No. 16 South Carolina Opens 2017 With a Road Win
Jan. 15, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 16 South Carolina women’s tennis took advantage of early momentum to begin the season with a solid 6-1 win against Furman, Sunday at the Minor Herndon Mickel Tennis Center in Greenville, S.C.
The Gamecocks got on the board first, sweeping the doubles play with a 6-4 win from senior Brigit Folland and sophomore Rachel Rohrabacher over Danni Vines and Hannah Ferrett. Junior Hadley Berg and sophomore Paige Cline claimed 6-4 win over Furman’s Ansley Speaks and Aryn Greene. Freshman Mia Horvit and senior Caroline Dailey closed out the doubles with a 6-5 victory over Katty Weymouth and Katarina Kozarov.
Moving into singles, South Carolina pulled ahead with three, two-set wins. In the No. 1 spot Ingrid Gamarra Martins defeated Southern Conference Player of the Year Ansley Speaks 6-3, 6-4. Horvit’s 6-0, 6-1 win over Kozarov at three and Folland’s 7-6, 6-2 triumph over Greene at five clinched the match for the Gamecocks.
Rohrabacher, Berg and Cline each had three-set battles to end the match. Rohrabacher triumphed over Bryde 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, with Berg coming back from a 1-6 loss in the first set to win the following two sets 7-6(5) and 10-5 over Vines. Cline fell to Katty Weymouth in a hard-fought 3-6, 7-5, 2-6 loss, to make it a 6-1 final.
Quoting Coach Kevin Epley
On today’s win:
“Overall, I think we had very good composure today. We were down in some doubles matches and fought hard in some singles but we didn’t let it get to us. We may not have played the best tennis today but I think we showed great mental composure. We made some important mental adjustments and got back in it. I think we found some things we need to work on and we’ll come out and play better tennis next week.”
Up Next
The Gamecocks prepare to travel to Jacksonville, Fla. for a doubleheader on Saturday, Jan. 21. The Gamecocks will square off with North Florida at 12 p.m. and Florida A&M at 3 p.m.
