Women's Tennis . February 1, 2018

No. 19 South Carolina Women's Tennis Sweeps Clemson

Feb. 1, 2018

Clemson at No. 19 South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 19 South Carolina women’s tennis (4-1) earned a Palmetto Series point with a 4-0 sweep against Clemson on Thursday.

The Gamecocks won the doubles point and three consecutive singles matches in straight sets to defeat the Tigers for the second straight match at the Carolina Tennis Center. With the win, South Carolina evened the all-time series at 27-27. The team’s four consecutive wins over the Tigers is its longest winning streak since rattling off six straight from 1997 to 2002.

DOUBLES

The Gamecocks took a 1-0 team advantage after securing the doubles point with two new tandem combinations. Megan Davies and Rachel Rohrabacher, who were paired in doubles for the first time in dual match play, cruised to a 6-2 doubles win over Ally Miller-Krasilnikov and Tate Schroeder. Prior to Thursday’s match, the only time the two had been paired was at the FGCU Spring Invite, defeating Amber Policare and Nina Khmelnitckaia, 6-1. With the win, Davies is 15-6 and Rohrabacher is 9-2 in fall and spring doubles play. Junior Paige Cline played doubles for the first time in 2018, helping partner Hadley Berg earn a 6-3 win against Constanza Gorches and Sydney Riley. The pair of All-Americans, who went 3-4 together in 2017 fall play, carried a 3-1 lead en route to a 6-3 win.

DOUBLES

1. Silvia Chinellato / Ingrid Gamarra Martins (SC) vs. Alexandre-Marie Leduc/Fernanda Navarro (CU) 5-3, unfinished

2. Hadley Berg / Paige Cline (SC) def. Constanza Gorches/Sydney Riley (CU) 6-3

3. Rachel Rohrabacher / Megan Davies (SC) def. Ally Miller-Krasilnikov/Tate Schroeder (CU) 6-2

Order of finish

3, 2

SINGLES

After clinching the doubles point, the Gamecocks rattled off three wins in singles to complete the sweep. Playing at the three-spot for the first time this season, Silvia Chinellato was the first Gamecock to win her match with a nearly perfect 6-1, 6-0 win over Sydney Riley. In similar fashion, Megan Davies won her third straight singles match in 2018 with a perfect 6-0, 6-0 sweep over Constanza Gorches. Davies’ perfect match in 12 games was the first for the Gamecocks this season, and improved the freshman to a team-high 18-4 overall and 3-1 in dual match play. Senior Hadley Berg clinched the match for South Carolina with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Tate Schroeder, and extended her singles winning streak to seven matches. With the win, Berg is 3-0 in dual match play and 15-1 overall this season.

SINGLES

1. Mia Horvit (SC) vs. #20 Alexandre-Marie Leduc (CU) 1-6, 2-5, unfinished

2. #43 Hadley Berg (SC) def. Tate Schroeder (CU) 6-1, 6-2

3. Silvia Chinellato (SC) def. Sydney Riley (CU) 6-1, 6-0

4. Ingrid Gamarra Martins (SC) vs. Fernanda Navarro (CU) 1-6, 5-2, unfinished

5. #105 Megan Davies (SC) def. Constanza Gorches (CU) 6-0, 6-0

6. Paige Cline (SC) vs. Daniela Ruiz (CU) 6-3, 2-2, unfinished

Order of finish

3, 5, 2

QUOTABLE

“I think we did a great job of making some adjustments. It’s all about getting a little bit better each match. We did a much better job at doubles. I think having somebody else in the lineup and kind of mixing things up a bit helped a lot …. but it was really just a matter of taking care of business. The stuff that we always talk about: outfighting, out-competing and being tougher.” — Head Coach Kevin Epley

GAMECOCK NOTABLES

South Carolina now owns a four-match winning streak over the Tigers, including a 7-0 win at Clemson last season and two back-to-back wins this season.
With her clinching singles win, Berg is now tied with Gira Schofield for ninth on the career wins list for singles. The senior, who has 89 career wins, is looking to become just the fourth player in school history with 100 wins.
With Thursday’s win, Epley is 12 wins away from reaching 100 at South Carolina and is 11 wins from 250 overall on his career.
Berg’s 15-1 singles record this season has her at 89-28 overall for her career, with a winning percentage of .761 that ranks seventh in school history.
Prior to this season, the Gamecocks and Tigers not played each other twice in the same season since 2004 when they met in February in Columbia and in May in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Clemson.

UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS

The Gamecocks will head to the University of Wisconsin to compete in the 2018 ITA Team Indoor National Championships from Feb. 9-12. The appearance marks the first career appearance in the event for Epley. Fifteen other teams advanced to ITA Team Indoors, including UCLA, Duke, Pepperdine, Auburn, Texas, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Texas Tech, Georgia, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, North Carolina and Florida.

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