Mills and Heath Going for Singles Titles
GREENVILLE, S.C. – South Carolina women’s tennis freshmen Elise Mills and Gemma Heath are set to play for two singles titles on Sunday morning at the Debbie Southern Fall Classic hosted by Furman at the Mickel Tennis Center.
The Gamecocks wrapped up doubles play on Saturday, leaving Sunday for only singles.
DOUBLES
In the Doubles 4 bracket, Kennedy Wicker and Mills came out on top in the back draw final. Two duo bounced back from a first-round loss against Lexi Ryngler and Fernanda Labrana of Texas, 8-5, to then win two-straight. First, Wicker and Mills topped Ali DeSpain and Zaina Nait Omar of Clemson, 8-6, followed by another, 8-6, victory against Mississippi State’s Marta Falceto and Sara Lizaturry.
Paired up together in Doubles 5, Heath and Kendall Couch took their first round against North Carolina’s Anika Yarlagadda and Sophia Patel, 8-6. The duo then fell to Peyton Pesavento and Maddie Lynch of Wake Forest 8-3, but finished out the tournament with a doubles win, 8-7 (4) opposite of Georgie Walker and Maggie Pate of Furman.
Mia Horvit and Emma Shelton teamed up in Doubles 2 and claimed a match over Tijana Spasojevic and Marta Perez Mur from Texas, 8-2. The Longhorns’ tandem took two losses from the Gamecocks in the same bracket, also falling to Megan Davies and Gabriela Martinez Asensi, 8-7 (5).
SINGLES
Mills has won all of her singles matches, topping Mira Stegman of Florida State, 6-4, 7-6 (4), and Georgia Tech’s Rosie Garcia Gross, 6-1, 6-3. The freshman from South Carolina plays for the Singles 9 title at 10 a.m. against MC Meredith of Wake Forest.
Also competing for a draw win, Heath takes on Duke’s Ema Lazic at 9 a.m. In the first round, Heath outlasted Sophia Sassoli of Georgia Tech, 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (??). Up next, Heath took down Clemson’s Laura Marti in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
After falling to Duke’s No. 5-ranked Kelly Chen in the first round, No. 49 Horvit defeated No. 57 Emmanuelle Salas of FSU in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Horvit will see Vanderbilt’s No. 35 Georgia Drummy in the Singles 1 back draw final at 9 a.m.
Competing in Singles 2, No. 125 Davies is set to play for the back draw title at 9 a.m. opposite of No. 15 Christina Rosca of the Commodores after getting a three-set win over Tennessee’s No. 120 Rebeka Mertena, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Shelton will also compete for her back draw title, after outlasting Labrana, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-2. She and the Tarheels’ Yarlagadda face off at 9 a.m.
In Singles 3, Silvia Chinellato won her first-round match against Petra Hule of Florida State in a three-set battle, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Chinellato dropped her next match to No. 89 Kaitlin Staines of Tennessee, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, and will play one more match against UNC’s No. 110 Allie Sanford at 11 a.m.
Asensi earned a victory in her first match of Singles 5, defeating Furman’s Madison Dillon in identical sets, 6-4, 6-4. She then fell to Luna Dormet of Ohio State, 7-5, 6-2. Finishing out the final day of play, Asense takes on DeSpain at 11:30 a.m.
For more information on the Gamecocks, continue to check back with gamecocksonline.com. Subscribe to South Carolina on Stanza to get schedule updates directly in your calendars.
