Women's Tennis . February 18, 2021

South Carolina Begins SEC Play at Auburn and Alabama

Gamecocks Look for Strong Start in Conference Matches

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The 20th-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team is set to open SEC play on the road this week, first taking on Auburn on Friday at 4 p.m. followed by Alabama on Sunday at 2 p.m.

The Gamecocks are looking to rebound from two straight losses and are 3-4 on the season, while Auburn is 5-1. The 8-1 Crimson Tide will take on No. 22 Florida on Friday before hosting South Carolina.

Last Time Out

South Carolina played just one match last week and suffered a 5-2 loss at home to a Furman squad that has been on fire as of late, defeating Alabama, Wake Forest and then South Carolina all in a five-day stretch.

The Gamecocks won a tightly contested doubles point, pulling through on courts one and three to grab the lead heading to singles. At one, the Gamecocks’ No. 29-ranked duo of Mia Horvit and Megan Davies fell behind 2-1 early to No. 27 Julia Adams and Katarina Kozarov. From there, the match turned completely to South Carolina’s favor, as Horvit and Davies raced through the next five games to win 6-2. South Carolina’s Emma Shelton and Gabriela Martinez fought back from a 4-2 deficit to earn the victory on court three over Ilayda Baykan and Ellie Schoppe. After getting the match to 4-all, Baykan and Schoppe snatched a 5-4 advantage with a chance to serve out the match. Shelton and Martinez dug deep and managed a break of serve and then held to make it 6-5 heading to the changeover. From there, they had the 0-40 lead on Furman’s serve and went on to close out the contest after the Paladins saved two match points.

The Gamecocks had their hands full in singles with Furman taking the first sets on four of the courts. The Paladins ended up answering back quickly with Schoppe picking up the 6-2, 6-3 victory from Ana Cruz on court six. South Carolina responded with No. 93 Shelton holding off Madison Dillon at the third position 6-2, 6-4. Minutes later, Adams downed No. 30 Davies 6-0, 6-3 to set the score at 2-all with courts one, four and five playing to decide the outcome. All three matches ended up going three sets and the Gamecocks were unable to come away with wins in any of them. MaryAnn Rompf gave Furman its third point with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 win against Allie Gretkowski on court four, and Maggie Pate sealed the win with a 2-6, 6-2 7-6(3) triumph over Elise Mills at five. In the final match at one, No. 34 Horvit lost to No. 15 Kozarov 7-6(7), 1-6, 6-4.

Gamecock Notables

Fifth-year senior Silvia Chinellato has currently won three singles matches in a row coming against Georgia Tech, Clemson and Virginia. All three wins have come in straight sets, and Chinellato leads the Gamecocks in dual match victories with a 4-2 record. Chinellato did not play in South Carolina’s last match against Furman due to an injury.
Freshman Allie Gretkowski picked up her first career win against a ranked player versus Georgia Tech by downing No. 123 Gia Cohen 7-5, 7-5.
Megan Davies’ current doubles ranking of No. 29 with Mia Horvit is the highest of her career.
The Gamecocks’ highest ranked doubles tandem is currently Silvia Chinellato and Emma Shelton at No. 20. They finished 2019-20 with the team’s top mark at 13-4 and were ranked as high as No. 12 nationally. Chinellato and Shelton went 3-3 in the fall together and are 1-1 together this spring.
South Carolina was scheduled to face Michigan in a consolation match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Jan. 24, but the Michigan athletics department announced late the night before it was putting a pause on competition for all of its athletics teams due to updated protocols needing to be in place for the new variant of COVID-19.
Mia Horvit is closing in on history this spring, looking to join the 100-win club in singles. She currently owns a 90-42 record in singles and is in ninth place all-time. She needs just two more to tie Brigit Folland (2013-17) for eighth place. Only three Gamecocks have reached 100 victories with Rita Winebarger (1984-88) leading the way at 127 followed by Ana Marija Zubori (2006-10) with 109 and Lynn-Yin Tan (1998-02) at 103.
Head coach Kevin Epley is in his ninth season with the Gamecocks and will look to record his 300th career win this season. Epley currently has a 290-129 mark in 17 seasons as a head coach at three schools. Epley has amassed a 139-70 record as South Carolina’s head coach and boasts an impressive 62-33 record in regular-season SEC play. He led the Gamecocks to their first SEC title in 2019 when South Carolina captured the SEC Tournament after finishing the regular season with a 12-1 record.
Mia Horvit has more wins in NCAA Tournament play than any Gamecock in school history. Between the team and individual tournaments, Horvit owns an impressive 17-3 record.
The Gamecocks ended the 2020 season riding a five-match winning streak that saw their overall record move to 8-4. They began SEC play with a 4-0 record after wins against Auburn, Alabama, Texas A&M and LSU. Georgia was the only other undefeated team in league play with a 3-0 record when the season was lost due to the pandemic.
Both Mia Horvit and Silvia Chinellato elected to use the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to play one more season after their senior years were cut short by COVID-19. Horvit is a two-time All-American and has been a member of the All-SEC Team three years in a row. She was named the UTR/ITA National Player of the Week just days before the 2020 season was postponed and later canceled. Chinellato was off to a hot start in SEC play last season with a 4-0 singles record and a 3-1 mark for doubles. She was ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation for doubles alongside Emma Shelton last spring.
Since the SEC began crowning a regular-season and tournament champion in 2000, only four teams have won the SEC Tournament. South Carolina became the fourth in 2019, joining Florida, Georgia and Vanderbilt as the only teams to win the event.
South Carolina has won 20 or more matches each of the past three full seasons, a first in school history. In total, the Gamecocks won 64 matches from 2017 to 2019.
Consistency is the name of the game, and South Carolina has certainly been one of the most consistent programs in the country for decades. Currently, the Gamecocks have made the NCAA Tournament 25 seasons in a row. Overall, South Carolina has competed in 29 of the 38 all-time NCAA Tournaments, advancing to the quarterfinals three times (1982, 2009, 2019) and the round of 16 nine times (1982, 1983, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019). Carolina has also finished the season ranked among the top-25 a total of 25 times.

About Auburn

Auburn is 5-1 after posting wins against Furman, Samford, USF, Clemson and North Florida in its non-conference schedule. The Tigers’ only defeat came in Atlanta against Georgia Tech by a 5-2 score. Three Tigers sport 5-1 records in dual match singles play thus far with Georgie Axon, Adeline Flach and Taylor Russo. Auburn’s top-ranked player, Selin Ovunc, is 3-2 playing at No. 1 singles with a ranking of 62nd. She and Russo combine to form the nation’s No. 11-rated doubles team. The Tigers are coached by Caroline Lilley, who is in her second year with the program after spending the prior four seasons as an assistant at Kansas.

The Auburn Series

South Carolina holds a significant advantage in the all-time series with Auburn at 31-9, but the Gamecocks are just 6-4 in the last 10 matchups. The Gamecocks have won the last three in a row after dropping three straight to the Tigers. In matches played in Auburn the Gamecocks own an 11-6 record while just losing once at home to Auburn (17-1). South Carolina at one point had a 17-match unbeaten streak versus Auburn from 1994 to 2007.

>> Full Auburn Series Results

About Alabama

Alabama is off to an 8-1 start this season with wins over UAB, Alabama State, USF, Kennesaw State, North Alabama, Memphis, Troy and Tulane. The Crimson Tide’s lone loss this season came at the hands of Furman by a 4-3 margin in Tuscaloosa. Anna Parkhomenko boasts Alabama’s top record in singles this season at 13-4 and she is 9-0 in dual matches. Not far behind is Anne Marie Hiser at 11-3 and 7-1 in duals. Alba Cortina Pou has an unblemished dual singles record as well at 8-0. The Crimson Tide are led by head coach Jenny Mainz, who is in her 24th season at the helm. Mainz has taken Alabama to 15 NCAA Tournaments and was named the 2013 ITA National Coach of the Year.

The Alabama Series

The Gamecocks have a 19-12 upper hand in the all-time series with the Crimson Tide and have won five in a row dating back to the 2016 season. Alabama won the five matchups between the two schools prior to that timeframe from 2012 to 2015. South Carolina also had two other five-match unbeaten streaks against the Tide, so a win Sunday would mark its longest win streak in the series. South Carolina posted a 4-0 win in Tuscaloosa last season and is 9-5 all-time on the Tide’s home courts.

>> Full Alabama Series Results