Gamecocks Wrap Strong First Day At FGCU Spring Invite
Jan. 13, 2018
Women’s Tennis at the FGCU Spring Invite
FORT MYERS, Fla. — No. 15 South Carolina women’s tennis got off to a strong start on the opening day of the FGCU Spring Invite, sweeping Kansas and Denver in doubles and earning five of seven wins in singles against No. 23 Ole Miss.
DOUBLES DOMINATION
The doubles tandem of Paige Cline and Ingrid Gamarra Martins earned a 6-3 win against Despoina Vogasari and Tatiana Nikolaeva of Kansas and a 6-0 win against Bianca Mok and Julia O’Loughlin of Denver, improving to 4-1 overall on the season. Hadley Berg and Silvia Chinellato, who were paired for the first time this season, earned a 7-5 victory against Kansas’ Janet Koch and Maria Toran Ribes. Megan Davies and Rachel Rohrabacher were also paired for the first time this season against Kansas, defeating Nina Khmelnitckaia and Amber Policare, 6-1. Berg and Rohrabacher earned a 6-2 win against Denver’s Anna Riedmiller and Hada Chang, and improved to 4-1 on the year as a tandem, while Davies and Chinellato teamed up for a 6-1 win over Arisha Ladhani and Camille Verden-Anderson that improved the pair to 10-3 in 2017-18.
STRONG SINGLES
Berg quickly defeated Ole Miss’ Arianne Hartono, who is ranked No. 50 in singles, 6-3, 6-4. With the sweep, the No. 43-ranked Berg improved to a team-high 11-1 on the year in overall singles play. No. 105-ranked singles player Davies was next off the court, earning a 6-1, 6-3 win over Allie Sanford of Ole Miss. The freshman is now 13-3 in singles play this season. Mia Horvit extended her singles winning streak to three matches, defeating the No. 62-ranked singles player Sabina Machalova with set scores of 6-4, 2-6, 10-6. After losing the first set, 4-6, Martins mounted a huge comeback victory against No. 81-ranked singles player Natalie Suk and improved to 6-1 on the season. Freshman Nikolina Jovic earned her eighth win of the season in singles by defeating Tereza Janatova. Ole Miss’ Anna Vrbenska defeated Cline, 6-2, 7-6 (3) while Alexa Bortles defeated Rohrabacher, 6-3, 6-4. .
DOUBLES
Cline/Gamarra Martins (South Carolina) def. Vogasari/Nikolaeva (Kansas) 6-3
Berg/Chinellato (South Carolina) def. Koch/Toran Ribes (Kansas) 7-5
Davies/Rohrabacher (South Carolina) def. Khmelnitckaia/Policare (Kansas) 6-1
Cline/Gamarra Martins (South Carolina) def. Mok/O’Loughlin (Denver) 6-0
Berg/Rohrabacher (South Carolina) def. Riedmiller/Chang (Denver) 6-2
Davies/Chinellato (South Carolina) def. Ladhani/Verden-Anderson (Denver) 6-1
SINGLES
#43 Hadley Berg (South Carolina) def. #50 Arianne Hartono (Ole Miss) 6-3, 6-4
Ingrid Gamarra Martins (South Carolina) def. #81 Natalie Suk (Ole Miss) 4-6, 6-3, 10-8
Mia Horvit (South Carolina) def. #62 Sabina Machalova (Ole Miss) 6-4, 2-6, 10-6.
Anna Vrbenska (Ole Miss) def. Paige Cline (South Carolina) 6-2, 7-6(3)
Alexa Bortles (Ole Miss) def. Rachel Rohrabacher (South Carolina) 6-3, 6-4
#105 Megan Davies (South Carolina) def. Allie Sanford (Ole Miss) 6-1, 6-3
Nikolina Jovic (South Carolina) def. Tereza Janatova (Ole Miss) 6-4, 6-1
QUOTABLE
UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS
Day two of action on Sunday begins with doubles against Rice at 9 a.m. and continues with a round of singles against FGCU at 10 a.m. The tournament wraps up for the Gamecocks with singles against Kansas on Monday at a time to be announced.
Following the FGCU Spring Invite, the Gamecocks will return to the Sunshine State for their first test in match play of the 2018 spring campaign. The team faces UCF at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 19 at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Campus in Orlando and USF at 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 21 at the USF Tennis Complex in Tampa.
For updates, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).
