Women's Tennis . April 22, 2017

No. 11 Gamecocks Defeat Kentucky 4-3 to Advance to SEC Tournament Semifinals

April 22, 2017

NASHVILLE, TN. — No. 11 South Carolina women’s tennis battled for every point as it narrowly beat No. 19 Kentucky in the third-round of the 2017 SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. Friday evening to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2010. The Gamecocks clinched a fiercely contested doubles point then carried the momentum into singles play to make a 4-3 final.

With the win, the Gamecocks improve to 18-7 overall, while the Wildcats fell to 16-8 on the season.

The doubles tandem of Hadley Berg and Paige Cline (29) claimed their match first, taking a dominating 6-1 victory in the No. 1 doubles. Brigit Folland and Ingrid Gamarra Martins battled to a 7-5 tiebreak to clinch the doubles point and give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

In singles, the bottom of the lineup proved key with South Carolina taking wins on courts four, five and six to claim a 4-3 final score. Berg came out firing on all cylinders to claim a speedy 6-3, 6-0 victory in the No. 5 spot. Silvia Chinellato followed suit, taking down her opponent 6-3, 6-3.

But Kentucky was able to mount a late rally to tie it up with one singles match to play. Mami Adachi upended Cline on court three 6-4, 6-3 to put Kentucky on the board, followed shortly by Aldila Sutjiadi (20) who took down Horvit (58) on court one 6-2, 6-3 to bring the score within one. Akvile Parazinskaite added her point with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ingrid Gamarra Matins (45) on court two to tie it up at three.

Folland battled her opponent to a tiebreak in the first set, but found her rhythm to dominate her opponent, Morgan Chumney, in the second set to post a 7-5, 6-2 triumph in the No. 6 spot and send the Gamecocks to the semifinals for the first time since 2010.

RESULTS

SINGLES: (5,4,3,2,1,6)
1. #20 Aldila Sutjiadi (UK) def. #58 Mia Horvit (SC) 6-2, 6-3
2. Akvile Parazinskaite (UK) def. #45 Ingrid Martins (SC) 6-4, 6-4
3. Mami Adachi (UK) def. Paige Cline (SC) 6-4, 6-3
4. Silvia Chinellato (SC) def. Emily Fanning (UK) 6-3, 6-3
5. Hadley Berg (SC) def. Justina Mikulskyte (UK) 6-3, 6-0
6. Brigit Folland (SC) def. Morgan Chumney (UK) 7-5, 6-2
DOUBLES: (1, 2*)
1. #29 Hadley Berg/Paige Cline (SC) def. #2 Aldila Sutjiadi/Mami Adachi (UK) 6-1
2. Brigit Folland/Ingrid Martins (SC) def. #87 Morgan Chumney/Akvile Parazinskaite (UK) 7-5
3. Rachel Rohrabacher/Caroline Dailey (SC) vs. Justina Mikulskyte/Emily Fanning (UK) 6-5, unfinished

HISTORY IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT

The Gamecocks are competing the their 26th SEC Tournament this season and own an all-time record of 22-25. The Gamecocks have reached the championship match on one occasion (2002) and the semifinals five times (1995, 1999, 2002, 2010, 2017). Carolina has competed in at least the quarterfinals all but five times (1993, 2004, 2008, 2013, 2015) as well. The Gamecocks suffered a 4-0 loss to Auburn in the quarterfinals of last year’s tournament.

Up Next

South Carolina will face No. 1 seeded Vanderbilt Saturday at 1 p.m. CT in Nashville, Tenn. in the third-round of the 2017 SEC Tournament. For more information on South Carolina women’s tennis team follow them on Facebook and Twitter at gamecockwtennis or check out GamecocksOnline.com.