Women's Tennis . January 27, 2018

Gamecocks Advance To ITA Indoors With Win Over Clemson

Jan. 27, 2018

ITA Kick-Off Weekend Championship Match

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 25 South Carolina women’s tennis (3-1) overcame an early deficit to defeat Clemson, 4-1, in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship match at the Carolina Tennis Center on Saturday.

Clemson secured the doubles point and took a 1-0 lead, but the Gamecocks won four straight singles matches to secure a trip to the ITA Team Indoor National Championship for the third time in program history and for the first time in the event’s current format, which began in 2009.

DOUBLES

While Silvia Chinellato and Ingrid Gamarra Martins rolled to a 6-2 doubles victory over Marie-Alexandre Leduc and Fernanda Navarro, Clemson was able to put together two straight wins to take the doubles point. No. 33 Rachel Rohrabacher and Hadley Berg took an early 2-0 lead against Sydney Riley and Constanza Gorches, but the Clemson tandem came back to even the score, 2-2. Berg and Rohrabacher jumped out to a 3-2 lead over Gorches and Riley, who ultimately took control to win, 6-4. The loss was the first for Berg and Rohrabacher this season, and snapped their five-match winning streak. Mia Horvit and Megan Davies were the last to finish in doubles, fighting back and forth with Tate Schroeder and Ally Miller-Krasilnikov in a lengthy dual. The Gamecocks tied it up, 5-5, but Clemson rallied off two straight game victories to secure the doubles point and jump out to a 1-0 team lead.

DOUBLES

1. Ingrid Gamarra Martins / Silvia Chinellato (SC) def. Marie-Alexandre Leduc/Fernanda Navarro (CU) 6-2

2. Sydney Riley/Constanza Gorches (CU) def. #33 Hadley Berg / Rachel Rohrabacher (SC) 6-4

3. Tate Schroeder/Ally Miller-Krasilnikov (CU) def. Mia Horvit / Megan Davies (SC) 7-5

Order of finish

1, 2, 3

SINGLES

Trailing 1-0, the Gamecocks took control in the singles portion of play Saturday. For the third straight match, Rachel Rohrabacher was the first to secure a point for the Gamecocks, defeating Daniela Ruiz in straight sets with a tiebreaker in the second, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2). The junior cruised to an early 3-1 lead in the first set en route to a 6-1 win, but had to win three straight games down 5-2 to force a tiebreaker in the second set. With the win, Rohrabacher has won five straight singles matches and is 3-0 in dual match play this season.

Megan Davies was the next Gamecock to finish, earning a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Constanza Gorches. Including a win over Oklahoma in Friday’s semifinal match, the freshman has won three consecutive matches since the first contest of the season, and is 3-1 in dual match play this year.

The 2017 All-American Mia Horvit earned her second win of the 2018 dual match campaign against Clemson’s Sydney Riley. The sophomore took a 4-0 lead against Riley and won the first set, 6-4. She had to come from behind in the second set as Riley gained steam, but ultimately helped the Gamecocks a 3-1 lead.

From that point, the match was in the hands of Ingrid Gamarra Martins, who came back from a 4-3 deficit against Tate Schroeder in the first set to win, 7-5. Martins and Schroeder battled into a tiebreaker in the second set, which Martins held onto to seal the win for the Gamecocks. With the win, Gamarra Martins improved to 3-0 in 2018 singles play.

SINGLES

1. #43 Hadley Berg (SC) vs. #20 Marie-Alexandre Leduc (CU) 6-3, 5-7, 2-3, unfinished

2. Mia Horvit (SC) def. Sydney Riley (CU) 6-4, 6-4

3. Ingrid Gamarra Martins (SC) def. Tate Schroeder (CU) 7-5, 7-6 (7-2)

4. Silvia Chinellato (SC) vs. Fernanda Navarro (CU) 5-7, 7-5, 2-0, unfinished

5. #105 Megan Davies (SC) def. Constanza Gorches (CU) 6-1, 7-5

6. Rachel Rohrabacher (SC) def. Daniela Ruiz (CU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-2)

Order of finish

6, 5, 2, 3

QUOTABLE

“We were a little disappointed coming out of doubles in regards to stepping up in big moments at home. That’s something we want to do, so we challenged them a little bit before going into singles. This is the time to step up and I think it was a lot closer match than the 4-1 score. Clemson is an awesome team. Very strong, but we were lucky and our girls were fighting hard and the close matches went our way.” — Head Coach Kevin Epley

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

With Saturday’s victory, South Carolina owns a three-match winning streak over the Tigers, including a 7-0 win at Clemson in 2017.
Berg needs just one more singles win to tie Gira Schofield for ninth on the career wins list for singles. The senior, who has 88 career wins, is looking to become just the fourth player in school history with 100 wins.
With Saturday’s win, Epley is 13 wins away from reaching 100 at South Carolina and is 12 wins from 250 overall on his career.
Berg’s 14-1 singles record this season has her at 88-28 overall for her career, with a winning percentage of .758 that ranks seventh in school history.
This is the seventh time the Gamecocks have played in the ITA Kick-Off in program history and the first time the team has hosted the event as the top seed. In all other appearances, the Gamecocks were the No. 2 seed, including appearances the 2017 Texas Tech Regional, the 2013 Michigan Regional, the 2012 Georgia Tech Regional, the 2011 Miami (Florida) Regional, the 2010 Arkansas Regional and the 2009 Duke Regional.
Prior to Friday’s match, the last time the Gamecocks won the semifinal match in the ITA Kick-Off was on Jan. 26, 2013 with a 4-3 win over Missouri at the Michigan Regional.

UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS

With a Palmetto Series point on the line, the Gamecocks will host Clemson (3-1) again in a dual match at the Carolina Tennis Center at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

As the winners of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend’s Columbia Regional, the top-seeded Gamecocks will advance to the ITA Indoor National Championship at the University of Wisconsin from Feb. 9-12.

For updates, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).