South Carolina Falls 4-0 at No. 21 Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The No. 35 South Carolina women’s tennis team fell 4-0 to No. 21 Tennessee on Friday at Barksdale Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Gamecocks dropped to 4-8 on the season and 1-4 in the SEC, while the Volunteers improved to 8-4 and 2-2 in league play.

Doubles Recap

South Carolina saw its streak of five consecutive matches winning the doubles point snapped at the hands of the Volunteers. The Gamecocks had early leads on all the courts, but UT counter punched and went on to win two of them at positions one and two.

At two, the Gamecocks’ Allie Gretkowski and Ana Cruz had a 4-2 advantage over Carly Briggs and Tenika McGiffin, however, the Volunteers stormed back to win four games in a row to take the match. A minute later, South Carolina answered with Silvia Chinellato and Elise Mills holding off Eleonora Molinaro and Rebeka Mertena by a 6-2 margin at No. 3 doubles.

With the matches split, Ester Adeshina and Daria Kuczer had a 5-4 lead over No. 29 Mia Horvit and Megan Davies of Carolina at No. 1 doubles with the match on serve. After splitting the first two rallies on Davies’ serve, the Volunteers managed to capture the next three points to get the break and a 6-4 victory.

Singles Recap

UT used its momentum from winning the doubles point to quickly take the first sets on courts four, five and six. The Gamecocks, meanwhile, went on to win the first sets on courts two and three, and then lost the first set on court one in a tiebreak.

Tennessee had too much firepower in the bottom half of its lineup. Tenika McGiffin got off the court first with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Allie Gretkowski, and next it was No. 85 Johanna Silva registering a 6-2, 6-2 triumph against Elise Mills on court six. Not long after Silva’s win, Daria Kuczer put the finishing touches on a 6-1, 6-2 win over Ana Cruz on court five to seal the win for the Volunteers.

The remaining matches at Nos. 1-3 singles were suspended following Kuczer’s victory. At one, Eleonora Molinaro beat No. 34 Mia Horvit 7-4 in a first-set tiebreaker and the two were just about to get the second set underway. The court two match also featured a tiebreak with No. 30 Megan Davies prevailing 7-3 over No. 118 Carly Briggs. Court three was in the second set with No. 52 Rebeka Mertena leading Silvia Chinellato 3-2, but Chinellato won the first set 6-4.

Notes

• South Carolina’s streak of winning the doubles point was snapped at five. The Gamecocks have won the point eight times in 12 contests this year.
• Tennessee ended a five-match losing streak to South Carolina and is now 27-22 all-time against the Gamecocks.
• Silvia Chinellato is 3-0 in SEC doubles matches this season.

Up Next

South Carolina faces No. 3 Georgia on Sunday in Athens at 1 p.m.