Gamecocks Blank Purdue, 4-0; Onto Championship
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 13-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team advanced to the ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship match after blanking Purdue, 4-0, on Saturday at the Carolina Tennis Center.
With the victory, the Gamecocks (1-1) handed the Boilermakers (3-1) their first loss of the season.
“Overall it was a pretty solid day,” head coach Kevin Epley said. “Everyone fought hard and committed to the goals we had set for ourselves prior to the match and looked pretty solid. We hope to get a little bit more intentional and aggressive in doubles moving forward. We feel good about where we’re at moving into Sunday.”
Kicking things off in doubles, Mia Horvit and Emma Shelton cruised to a quick, 6-1, victory over Nikol Dobrilova and Seira Shimizu on court one.
Competing at No. 2 doubles, Silvia Chinellato and Megan Davies topped Ena Babic and Csilla Fodor, 6-3, putting South Carolina up, 1-0, heading into singles.
Carrying over momentum from doubles, Chinellato stormed to a, 6-2, 6-0, win opposite of Alex Sabe on court three. In the first set, Chinellato did not fall behind once and followed that up with a bagel in the second set, putting the Gamecocks up, 2-0.
At the No. 4 spot, Shelton allowed Shimizu only one game in the first set, downing the Boilermaker, 6-1. Shelton completely controlled the second set, blanking Shimizu for a final score of 6-1, 6-0 and giving Carolina the opportunity to clinch.
On court two, No. 28-ranked Davies did not allow Dobrilova a single game in the first set, winning it, 6-0. In the second set, Davies had the lead, 5-1, before the Boilermaker came back for a game, making it, 5-2. Davies finished off the match, defeating Dobrilova, 6-0, 6-2, and securing the overall match for South Carolina, 4-0.
Up next, the Gamecocks take on the winner of Georgia Tech and Wisconsin on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET for a spot at the ITA DI Women’s National Team Indoors.
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