No. 9 Carolina Faces Two Ranked Opponents on the Road
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina women’s tennis team hits the road for its first two away matches of the SEC season as it faces Missouri on Friday at 6 p.m. ET and Arkansas on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
The No. 9 Gamecocks (7-2, 2-0 SEC) are coming off two-straight SEC wins over Mississippi State, 4-1, and Ole Miss, 4-0. The two victories put Carolina on a three-match win streak.
“Playing Missouri and Arkansas always presents challenges that we have to prepare for,” head coach Kevin Epley said. “They aren’t the easiest places to compete. It’s great to get a winning weekend under our belt and assess the adjustments we need to make in order to perform better this weekend.”
Senior and No. 9-ranked Ingrid Gamarra Martins has reeled off five-consecutive victories at the No. 1 spot. She is 5-1 in dual matches and has tallied an impressive overall mark of 17-5.
At the No. 5 position, sophomore Silvia Chinellato is on a seven-match win streak. Chinellato stands undefeated for South Carolina in dual matches at 4-0. Overall, she has put up a record of 9-3.
In doubles, No. 7-ranked Gamarra Martins and Mia Horvit are 6-1 at the top spot for the Gamecocks and have won three-straight. Playing together since the fall, the tandem has a mark of 16-3.
South Carolina has come out on top in all of its matches against the No. 41 Tigers (10-3, 0-2 SEC), sweeping the series thus far, 7-0. Last season, the Gamecocks blanked Mizzou, 4-0. Missouri is coming off of two-straight losses after falling to No. 6 Vanderbilt, 7-0, and then to Kentucky, 4-1.
Against No. 44 Arkansas (7-6, 0-2 SEC), Carolina has a hefty lead over the Razorbacks in the all-time series, 25-7. Last year, the programs split two matches. First, the Gamecocks did not allow Arkansas a point, winning the regular-season match, 4-0. At the SEC Tournament, the Razorbacks upset South Carolina, 4-2, in the third round.
Arkansas heads into the weekend having lost six-straight matches, including Oklahoma (4-0), Tulsa (4-1), Loyola Marymount (4-1), No. 8 Kansas (7-0), No. 25 Kentucky (5-1) and No. 6 Vanderbilt (6-1).
Live scoring is available for both matches and can be found on the women’s tennis schedule page on gamecocksonline.com.
Continue to check back with gamecocksonline.com for more updates or follow the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).
