Gamecocks' Comeback Bid Falls Short at Georgia Tech

ATLANTA — The 14th-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team’s comeback bid against No. 12 Georgia Tech in the ITA Kickoff Weekend fell just short Saturday at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta. The Gamecocks lost the doubles point and split the singles to suffer a 4-3 loss at the hands of the Yellow Jackets, dropping their record to 2-2. Georgia Tech improved to 2-0 on the year.

Doubles Recap

All three courts began trading games back and forth with No. 29 Megan Davies and Mia Horvit of the Gamecocks knotted up at 3-all against fifth-ranked Kenya Jones and Victoria Flores on court one. South Carolina’s Allie Gretkowski and Emma Shelton were at 3-all in their match as well against Gia Cohen and Carol Lee at the No. 2 spot. At three doubles, Silvia Chinellato and Ana Cruz were tied at 2-all with Georgia Tech’s Ruth Marsh and Ava Hrastar.

The Yellow Jackets’ two teams on courts one and two then managed to run off three games in a row to secure the doubles point. First, Lee and Cohen grabbed a 6-3 win at two over Gretkowski and Shelton, and Jones and Flores followed with the clincher at one over Horvit and Davies by the same score.

The No. 3 match was suspended once Georgia Tech had clinched the point with the score tied 3-all.

Singles Recap

The Gamecocks got back in the match quickly in singles play by taking the first sets on courts two, four, five and six. Cruz was dominant in her first set against Mahak Jain on court six by taking the set 6-1, and Chinellato grabbed her first set from Lee on court five 6-2. Davies, ranked No. 30, snatched her first set from Hrastar by a 6-3 margin on court two, and Gretkowski held off No. 123 Cohen 7-5 at the fifth singles spot.

No. 13 Jones put Georgia Tech ahead 2-0 after she downed No. 34 Horvit at the top position 6-2, 6-4, but the Gamecocks countered with a pair of wins from Chinellato and Gretkowski. Chinellato finished first with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph followed by Gretkowski’s 7-5, 7-5 victory.

Georgia Tech pushed ahead 3-2 after No. 56 Flores held off No. 93 Shelton’s comeback effort on court three, winning the match in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. 

The final two matches on courts two and six each needed three sets to decide a winner. At two, Davies managed to fight off Hrastar 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to knot up the team score 3-all. In the final match at six, Cruz faltered in the second set to Jain 6-3 after claiming the first and she faced a 5-1 deficit in the third. Cruz refused to leave the court that easily and won four games in a row to tie the score up in the third set 5-5, but Jain responded by taking the next two games for a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win to propel Georgia Tech into the next round of the ITA Kickoff Weekend.

Notes

• Georgia Tech has now won six in a row over South Carolina and is 6-4 in the all-time series.
• Freshman Allie Gretkowski picked up her first career victory against a ranked opponent by defeating No. 123 Gia Cohen on court four.
• Gretkowski leads the Gamecocks in singles victories this spring with a 3-1 record.

Up Next

South Carolina faces the loser of today’s second contest between No. 6 Duke and No. 22 Michigan on Sunday at 10 a.m. in a consolation match for the ITA Kickoff Weekend.