Gamecocks Sweep Opening Day Of Home Tournament
Sept. 15, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s tennis swept all 27 points up for grab in the first day of the South Carolina Fall Invitational on Friday at the Carolina Tennis Center. The Gamecocks won all six singles matches against Middle Tennessee State to start day before closing with three wins over James Madison and Liberty in the afternoon doubles competition.
Looking poised and confident from the start, three Carolina freshmen mixed with three upperclassmen rolled to a 1-0 start to the season in singles. Three of the six matches were finished in two sets.
“The purpose of this tournament is to get the girls competing and it was an opportunity for us to see the freshmen in action,” head coach Kevin Epley said. “We were very interested to see the doubles skills that they have coming in. We’re happy to see the fight of the freshmen and our veterans are playing pretty well, which is big. Overall, I’m really happy with what the team produced today.”
After a strong morning session, Carolina returns to the courts for a doubles competition with James Madison and Liberty.
The Gamecocks cruised through their competition, starting with a Hadley Berg and Paige Cline 6-2 victory on Court 1. Silvia Chinellato and Megan Davies followed that up with an impressive 6-2 win on Court 2 before Nikolina Jovic and Kennedy Wicker finished the day with a 6-0 triumph on Court 3.
Carolina returns to action tomorrow for the second day of tournament action starting at 8 a.m. at the Carolina Tennis Center.
“Day one, so it’s still early,” Berg said. “But it feels good. I think we all know the little things we can work on to improve tomorrow but all around we’re happy with how it went and how everyone carried themselves. It was cool to see.”
Singles Results
1. Paige Cline (SC) def. Luisa Zirilli (MTSU) 7-6(3), 3-6, (10-6)
2. #107 Hadley Berg (SC) def. Kim Kermet (MTSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. #116 Silvia Chinellato (SC) def. Marta Peris Herrero (MTSU) 6-1, 6-4
4. Megan Davies (SC) def. Costanza Magazzini (MTSU) 6-1, 6-0
5. Nikolina Jovic (SC) def. Lindia Burrows (MTSU) 6-3, 6-7(5), (10-8)
6. Kathryn Wicker (SC) def. Zehnder (MTSU) 6-4, 3-0 ret.
Doubles Results
1. #7 Paige Cline/Hadley Berg (SC) def. Emma Petersen/Anna Makarova (JMU) 6-2
2. Silvia Chinellato/Megan Davies (SC) def. Michaela Kluska/Kimmy Herrock (JMU) 6-1
3. Nikolina Jovic/Kathryn Wicker (SC) def. Nasha Ghajar/Grace Hashiguchi (Liberty) 6-0
