No. 9 Gamecocks Sweep No. 41 Missouri, 4-0

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The South Carolina women’s tennis team needed just the doubles point and three singles courts for its, 4-0, defeat of Missouri on Friday evening at the Mizzou Tennis Complex in Columbia, Mo.
 
The No. 9 Gamecocks remain perfect in SEC play, 3-0, and move to 8-2 overall. The No. 41 Tigers fall to 10-4 on the season and 0-3 in the SEC.
 
“We’ve been working hard this week on how we wanted to compete this weekend,” head coach Kevin Epley said. “The team stepped up and did a pretty good job across the board. In particular, Kennedy (Wicker) and Megan (Davies) played some great doubles. It was great to see Paige (Cline) get the clinch for us going into Arkansas on Sunday.”
 
Carolina started the day winning its fourth-straight doubles point, taking an early, 1-0, lead in the match.
 
On court three, sophomores Kennedy Wicker and Megan Davies extended their win streak to three matches after an easy, 6-1, victory over Mizzou’s Marta Oliveira and Lisa Fukutoku.
 
Finishing out doubles, senior Paige Cline and junior Silvia Chinellato clinched the point with their, 6-2, defeat of Vivien Abraham and Taylor Gruber at the No. 2 spot.
 
Starting off singles with just four courts on due to playing indoors, Carolina needed just three to get the victory.
 
No. 99 Mia Horvit took down Fukutoku in their first set, 6-1, on court three. In the second set, Horvit fell behind, 3-1. Making a comeback, Hovit it tied it, 3-3, before going down, 4-3. Horvit then took three-straight games for a, 6-1, 6-4, win, putting the Gamecocks up, 2-0.
 
At the No. 1 position, No. 9 Ingrid Gamarra Martins took a quick first set against No. 97 Macken Middlebrooks, 6-1. Gamarra Martins fell behind in her second set, 3-1. At the 3-2 mark, Gamarra Martins won three games in-a-row, taking a, 5-3, lead. She eventually topped her Tiger opponent, 6-1, 6-4, extending the lead, 3-0, in favor of South Carolina. The victory also served as Gamarra Martins’ sixth-straight.
 
Needing just one more victory to clinch the match, No. 49 Cline got the job done on court two. Cline topped her opponent in identical sets, 6-2, 6-2, ending the overall match, 4-0.
 
Next, Carolina heads to No. 44 Arkansas for a 1 p.m. ET match on Sunday at the Billingsley Tennis Center in Fayetteville, Ark.
 
Continue to check back with gamecocksonline.com for more updates or follow the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).