Women's Tennis . March 7, 2021

Third-Ranked Georgia Hands Gamecocks 4-0 Loss

South Carolina Returns Home to Host Arkansas, Missouri Next Weekend

ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 35 South Carolina women’s tennis team took a 4-0 loss to No. 3 Georgia on Sunday afternoon at the Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.

With the loss, the Gamecocks fell to 4-9 and 1-5 in the SEC, while the Bulldogs improved to 9-1 and 5-0 in league play.

Doubles Recap

Georgia kicked off the match with 2-1 leads on all three courts in doubles. At the No. 3 spot, Meg Kowalski and Lea Ma eventually had a 5-2 advantage on Silvia Chinellato and Elise Mills, but the Gamecocks managed to pull out the next two games to close the gap to one. The Bulldogs then served out the match for a 6-4 victory.

The Gamecocks faced 5-4 deficits at both one and two after Georgia took court three. Megan Davies and Mia Horvit, ranked 29th, fought off two match point opportunities on Davies’ serve in the 10th game against Katarina Jokic and Ariana Arseneault at No. 1 doubles to tie the score at 5-all. After the Bulldogs held serve in the next game, they went on to break Horvit to earn a 7-5 triumph and 1-0 lead heading to singles.

The remaining contest at No. 2 doubles saw No. 37-ranked Elena Christofi and Morgan Coppoc leading South Carolina’s Ana Cruz and Allie Gretkowski 6-5 with the match on serve and the Gamecocks leading 30-0 when play was suspended since the doubles point had been decided.

Singles Recap

The Bulldogs were too much in singles for the Gamecocks, picking up victories in straight sets on courts three, four and six to earn the win. No. 73 Morgan Coppoc was the first to finish in singles by downing Allie Gretkowski by scores of 6-1, 6-4 on court four, and No. 60 Meg Kowalski was next off the court with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Silvia Chinellato.

Despite the 3-0 deficit, the Gamecocks continued to fight on the remaining four courts. At six, Lindsay Tulenko had a 4-3 lead in the first set over Elena Christofi, but Christofi was able to come back and take the first set 6-4. In the second set, Christofi jumped out to a 3-0 lead and after Tulenko snagged a game, Christofi claimed another three games in a row for a 6-4, 6-1 triumph to give Georgia the win.

Play on courts one, two and five stopped once Christofi secured UGA’s victory. At one, No. 16 Katarina Jokic led No. 34 Mia Horvit 7-5 and it was 2-all in the second set. No. 31 Lea Ma had a 6-3, 5-4 advantage over No. 30 Megan Davies on court two. South Carolina nearly scored a point at No. 5 singles with Ana Cruz beating No. 50 Marta Gonzalez 6-0 in the first set and she led 5-3 in the second and was two points away from finishing.

Notes

Georgia is now 48-17 all-time against South Carolina. The Gamecocks have played the Bulldogs more than any other team in program history.
The Bulldogs avenged a 4-3 loss in their last meeting with the Gamecocks in the championship match of the 2019 SEC Tournament in College Station, Texas.
Freshman Lindsay Tulenko, who is from Bogart, Ga., just outside of Athens, played in her first collegiate dual match at No. 6 singles.