Women's Tennis . March 14, 2021

Gamecocks Cap Off Unbeaten Weekend With 4-1 Win Over Missouri

South Carolina Gets Back on Track in SEC Play

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 39 South Carolina women’s tennis team finished off an unbeaten weekend thanks to a 4-1 victory over No. 41 Missouri on Sunday at the Carolina Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C.

The Gamecocks upped their record to 6-9 overall and 3-5 in the SEC, while the Tigers dipped to 13-9 and 1-6 in league play.

Doubles Recap

The Tigers gave the Gamecocks fits in doubles, especially on courts one and two to begin play. At one, Bronte Murgett and Marta Oliveira had a 2-1 lead over No. 29 Mia Horvit and Megan Davies, while Gabrielle Goldin and Valentina Pongruber jumped on top of 20th-ranked Silvia Chinellato and Emma Shelton by a 2-0 score. Ana Cruz and Allie Gretkowski began to pull away at three over the Tigers’ duo of Serena Nash and Ellie Wright with a 4-1 advantage.

Still down 3-2 at one, Davies and Horvit won a critical deuce point to even the match back up at 3-all and then surged ahead 4-3 at the changeover. After the Tigers got it back to 4-all with a break of Horvit’s serve, South Carolina answered back with a break of its own to give Davies an opportunity to serve out the match, which she did for a 6-4 victory.

Missouri had no trouble answering back on court two. After Chinellato and Shelton had tied the match back up at 2-all, Goldin and Pongruber ran off four games in a row in their favor for a 6-2 triumph.

The deciding contest at three saw the Tigers fighting back from a 4-1 deficit to close the margin to 4-3. Cruz and Gretkowski regrouped at the changeover and then quickly broke Missouri’s serve in the next game. Gretkowski had the serve in the ninth game and she and Cruz locked in and surrendered no points in grabbing the 6-3 lead to give Carolina the advantage heading to singles play. The win moved Cruz and Gretkowski to a perfect 7-0 this season at No. 3 doubles.

Singles Recap

Singles play began favorably for the Gamecocks, as they took 4-1 leads on courts two, four and six, while also leading 4-2 at one and 3-2 at five. The Tigers’ only lead was on court three by a 4-1 margin. South Carolina went on to earn impressive first-set victories by scores of 6-2 at one, 6-0 at two, 6-1 at four and 6-2 at six, while Missouri claimed a 6-1 win at four and a 6-4 triumph on court five.

Megan Davies, ranked No. 30, was on a mission from the beginning of her match and registered the first point for South Carolina in singles. After winning the first set 6-0 on court two, she pushed forward 4-0 in the second before giving Valentina Pongruber one game, but Davies came right back and finished it off 6-1.

No. 34-ranked Mia Horvit was right on Davies’ heels to finish her contest at No. 1 singles, which she did less than three minutes later. Horvit took down Bronte Murgett 6-2, 6-3 to put Carolina within a point of securing the victory.

Emma Shelton emerged as the most likely candidate to wrap up the win, but before she could the Tigers got on the board with Ellie Wright’s 6-2, 6-1 win on court three over Silvia Chinellato. Minutes later, No. 93 Shelton put the finishing touches on her 6-1, 6-3 victory against Marta Oliveira at the fourth position to put the Gamecocks in the win column.

Play at five and six singles was stopped once Shelton clinched the win for Carolina. At five, Missouri’s Serena Nash won the first set on Allie Gretkowski 6-4, but Gretkowski had a 3-2 lead in the second. Ana Cruz beat Elys Ventura of Missouri 6-2 in the first set on court six and trailed 5-3 in the second frame.

Notes

Ana Cruz and Allie Gretkowski remained perfect on the season at No. 3 doubles, moving their record to 7-0 at the position. The duo is 7-2 overall and 5-1 in SEC play.
The Gamecocks have won the doubles point 10 times in 15 matches this season.
South Carolina is still unbeaten against Missouri in the all-time series with a 9-0 record.
Mia Horvit is now in sole possession of seventh place on the Gamecocks’ career singles wins list with 94. She needs two more to tie Natasa Vuckovic (2005-09) for sixth. Horvit also has 169 combined singles/doubles victories in her career and is one away from tying Gira Schofield (2005-09) for ninth place.
Head coach Kevin Epley is now eight career wins shy of 300 for his career.
The match clocked in at just over two hours at 2:05.