No. 13 Gamecocks Set for Season-Opener Against Southern Cal at the Australian Open
MELBOURNE, Australia – The South Carolina women’s tennis team opens its season against Southern California at 7 p.m., ET on Monday at Melbourne Park, competing in the first-ever dual match to be played during one of the four professional Grand Slam events.
For those wanting to watch at home, the match will be broadcast on ESPN3, which is available on WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app.
The two programs have only met one other time, with the Trojans coming out on top, 8-1, in 1982, in a neutral-site match.
“We’ve had the opportunity to see the best tennis players in the world going toe-to-toe for days now and we are getting excited to get out there and compete ourselves,” head coach Kevin Epley said. “Tennis Australia and the ITA have put together a terrific event and we are grateful to have the opportunity to represent and show a different part of the world what college tennis is all about.”
No. 13-ranked Carolina brings three ranked singles players to its season-opener in No. 12 Ingrid Gamarra Martins, No. 25 Paige Cline and No. 69 Mia Horvit. The Gamecocks’ roster also has three doubles teams, including No. 11-ranked Horvit and Gamarra Martins, No. 23 Megan Davies and Rachel Rohrabacher, and No. 59T Silvia Chinellato and Gamarra Martins.
In the fall, South Carolina combined for an overall singles record of 46-25 (.648) and 23-15 (.605) in doubles. The Gamecocks also went 16-11 (.593) against nationally-ranked opponents in singles and 6-4 (.600) opposite of ranked doubles teams.
The Southern Cal roster is also home to three ranked singles players with No. 20 Salma Ewing, No. 87 Ana Neffa and No. 99 Danielle Willson. The Trojans also have one doubles tandem ranked in Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes at No. 42.
South Carolina and Southern Cal are not complete strangers prior to Monday’s match. At the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in November, then-ranked No. 20 Horvit and Gamarra Martins faced off against No. 8-seeded and No. 27-ranked Kulikov and Valdes in the round of 16. The Gamecock duo dropped the first set, but came back to win the second and the tiebreaker, downing the seeded tandem, 4-6, 7-6 (7), 10-4.
Continue to check back with gamecocksonline.com for more updates or follow the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).
