Gamecocks Headed to 26th Consecutive NCAA Tournament
South Carolina Takes on Iowa State in First Round Friday in Raleigh
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The 22nd-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team is headed to its 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament, as selections for the 64-team field were announced Monday evening on a webcast on NCAA.com.
The Gamecocks will travel to Raleigh, N.C., for first- and second-round action that begins Friday at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center with a contest versus No. 35 Iowa State in the opening round. The tournament’s No. 6 seed and seventh-ranked NC State will take on VCU in the other first-round match with the winners meeting in the second round Saturday for a chance to head to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., for the NCAA Championships. Round of 16 action in Orlando begins Sunday, May 16.
South Carolina’s 26 NCAA appearances in a row is currently tied for the eighth longest active streak in the nation with Vanderbilt. Overall, the Gamecocks are making their 30th showing in the NCAA Tournament, making them one of only 13 teams in the country with at least 30 in what will be the 39th NCAA Tournament in 2021.
Carolina brings a 12-11 record into postseason play and finished with a 7-6 record in the SEC during the regular season. Mostly recently, the Garnet & Black reached the semifinals of the SEC Tournament after defeating Vanderbilt in the second round and Florida in the quarterfinals. The Gamecocks suffered a 4-2 setback to Texas A&M in the semis.
The Gamecocks had a remarkable turnaround to their 2021 campaign, as following a pair of road losses to Tennessee and Georgia, the squad stood just 4-9 overall and 1-5 in the SEC. In danger of missing out on the NCAA Tournament, South Carolina regrouped the following weekend and won six matches in a row to get back over .500 for the season and grab the No. 7 seed for the conference tournament. In winning eight of its past 10 matches, South Carolina has defeated a team with a higher ranking than it seven times.
Selections for the 64-person NCAA Singles Championship and 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship are set to be announced Tuesday evening. The Gamecocks currently have two top-50-ranked singles competitors with Mia Horvit at No. 35 and Megan Davies at No. 48. Horvit and Davies are also ranked No. 13 in doubles. The singles championship begins Sunday, May 23, and the doubles starts Monday, May 24. Both events will take place at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.
