Women's Tennis . March 27, 2021

Gamecocks Pull Another Upset, Beat No. 21 Ole Miss 4-1

South Carolina Wins Fourth Match in a Row

OXFORD, Miss. — The No. 39 South Carolina women’s tennis team recorded its second upset in a row, this time downing No. 21 Ole Miss 4-1 in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center.

The Gamecocks improved to 8-9 overall and 5-5 in the SEC, while the Rebels fell to 8-7 and 4-5 in league play.

Doubles Recap

The Gamecocks fell behind on courts one and two in doubles, while the No. 3 duo of Ana Cruz and Allie Gretkowski continued their outstanding play this season. They quickly went ahead 3-0 on Kelsey Mize and Lillian Gabrielsen and cruised to a 6-1 victory to get off the courts first. Cruz and Gretkowski are now 8-0 on the season on court three and have compiled a 6-1 record in SEC play.

At the top position, Ole Miss’s No. 59-ranked duo of Alexa Bortles and Sabina Machalova held a 4-1 advantage over No. 15 Megan Davies and Mia Horvit. Despite the Rebels’ lead, Davies and Horvit regrouped and were relentless in their comeback bid, running off five straight games in their favor to take the match 6-4 and give the Gamecocks a 1-0 upper hand heading to singles play.

Play was suspended on court two once the point was decided. After trading games back and forth, Silvia Chinellato and Emma Shelton found themselves up a break at 5-4 against Tereza Janatova and Anna Vrbenska.

Singles Recap

South Carolina continued the outstanding singles play it displayed at Mississippi State two days prior by claiming first sets on courts one through four. At the top three positions, the Gamecocks were the underdogs on paper with No. 85 Mia Horvit facing off with No. 16 Sabina Machalova at one, Megan Davies taking on No. 40 Tiphanie Fiquet on court two, and Emma Shelton playing No. 80 Tereza Janatova at three.

After winning 6-3 in the first set over Machalova, Horvit held on for a 6-4 victory in the second set to give Carolina a 2-0 lead. Horvit improved to 6-1 this season at No. 1 singles in SEC play and notched the Gamecocks’ top ranked victory of the season in the process. Machalova is the third highest ranked player Horvit has beaten in her career.

Davies added the next point for the Gamecocks with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Fiquet to mark her second win in a row over a top-40 player. On Thursday, Davies upended No. 19 Emma Antonaki from Mississippi State to clinch the win over the Bulldogs.

Reka Zadori got the Rebels on the board by taking down Allie Gretkowski 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 5 slot, but Shelton answered back for the Gamecocks at three win another upset to close out the day. After taking the first set from Janatova 6-3, Shelton found herself up 6-5 in the second, but Janatova managed to put the set in a tiebreak. From there, Shelton snatched control and gutted out a 7-4 victory to mark her first victory this season over a ranked opponent.

The remaining matches on courts four and six were suspended once Shelton secured the victory for Carolina. At four, Silvia Chinellato took the first set from the Rebels’ Anna Vrbenska 6-3, but Vrbenska grabbed the second 6-4. In the third, Chinellato jumped out to a 2-0 advantage. Lillian Gabrielsen took the first set from the Gamecocks’ Ana Cruz at six by a 6-3 margin, and Cruz came back to claim the second 6-2. Gabrielsen was up a break at 3-1 in the third.

Notes

The Gamecocks won the doubles point for the 11th time in 17 matches this season.
During South Carolina’s current four-match winning streak, the Gamecocks have been the underdogs in three of the contests.
South Carolina pulled off three upsets in singles at the Nos. 1-3 positions, knocking off players ranked 16th, 40th and 80th.
For the second match in a row, Megan Davies, who is unranked, defeated a ranked opponent by downing No. 40 Tiphanie Fiquet in straight sets. She upended No. 19 Emma Antonaki of Mississippi State in her last match.
Mia Horvit’s win over No. 16 Sabina Machalova was the highest ranked win for the Gamecocks this season. For Horvit, it was the third highest ranked victory of her career.
Emma Shelton posted her first victory this season over a ranked opponent in clinching the match with a victory over No. 80 Tereza Janatova.
Mia Horvit won her 96th career singles match. She is now tied with Natasa Vuckovic (2005-09) for sixth place on the Gamecocks’ all-time list. Horvit also has 172 combined singles/doubles victories in her career, eclipsing Gira Schofield (2005-09) for sole possession of ninth place.
Head coach Kevin Epley is now five career wins shy of 300 for his career.
South Carolina is now 24-17 all-time against Ole Miss and has won eight straight over the Rebels. The Gamecocks’ eight consecutive wins marks the longest winning streak by either team in the series.