South Carolina Prepped for ITA Carolina Regionals

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Nine Gamecocks are set to compete in the ITA Carolina Regionals on Thursday in Winston-Salem, N.C. Four members of the South Carolina squad will compete in the main draw and two members will compete in the qualifying draw. The remaining three Gamecocks are set to compete in the B draw.
 
Gamecock Notables

• No. 29 Ayana Akli, sophomore Allie Gretkowski and newcomers Misa Malkin and Gracie Mulville are slated in the main draw of the tournament.
• Akli comes off an impressive run in the ITA All-American Championships, advancing through the qualifying draw to reach the main draw round of 32. She is 6-3 against ranked opponents this season.
• Gretkowski last played in the Wolfpack Invitational Ranked Spotlight, in which she upset the No. 73 player in straight sets.
• This will be Malkin’s third tournament this fall. She looks to build upon her 5-5 singles record.
• Freshman Mulville will make her South Carolina debut in the ITA event.
• Juniors Ana Cruz and Elise Mills and sophomore Lindsay Tulenko will participate in the qualifying draw for a chance to advance to the main draw. 
• Chloe Narboni and Kendall Couch will compete in the B draw.
• Narboni went 2-1 in singles at the 49er Invite, only dropping a match to the No. 122 player.

 
Tournament Notables

• South Carolina is 122-89 all-time in singles and 62-36 all-time in doubles in the event. In the most recent showing in 2019, the Gamecocks went 13-13 in singles and 10-4 in doubles.
• The Gamecocks won one regional singles title in 1988 and one regional doubles title in 1987 when the event was known as the ITA Southeast Region Tournament. 
• Since the event was restructured to only include schools from North and South Carolina in 2009, the Gamecocks have reached the finals of both the singles and doubles draws but have yet to win in that stage.
• South Carolina is one of 22 schools participating in this year’s regional tournament.
• The Tournament was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.