Hamner Battles, Finishes NCAA Singles Championship Play
Hamner finishes the season with 35 singles wins.
Champaign, Ill. – South Carolina women’s tennis freshman No. 6 Sarah Hamner fell in a three-set thriller on Tuesday at the NCAA Singles Championships. Hamner faced the No. 27 player in the nation in a competitive Round of 32 match.
In the first set, Hamner dropped the first two games but quickly came back to tie Pepperdine’s Lisa Zaar 2-2. Zaar then pulled ahead 2-5 until Hamner was able to secure one more break before the Wave closed the first set 6-3.
Hamner trailed 1-3 in the second set, but the Gamecock came alive and quickly turned things around to keep the match close. She battled through multiple long rallies to pull ahead 5-4. She secured the 6-4 victory with a powerful volley at the net to force a third set.
The final set started strong for Hamner who took the first game to go up a break. From there, Zaar pushed back and slowly began to pull ahead. Hamner would notch one more game before her Pepperdine opponent took the 6-2 win to end Hamner’s NCAA Singles Championship run.
Hamner finishes the year with 35 singles wins which is tied for second most wins in a single season in program history. The mark has not been reached since the 1989-90 season.
Results
No. 27 Lisa Zaar (PEPP) def. No. 6 Sarah Hamner (SC) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
