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Women’s Tennis Makes First SEC Road Swing
Women's Tennis  . 

Women’s Tennis Makes First SEC Road Swing

Columbia, S.C. – ­No. 26 South Carolina women’s tennis will hit the road for the first time during the SEC season, traveling to the Magnolia State to take on Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The match versus Ole Miss will be on Friday, March 24 at 4:00 p.m. ET while the match versus Mississippi State will be Sun., March 26 at noon ET.

These matches will be South Carolina’s first road matches of the SEC season, having opened conference play with five matches at home. The Gamecocks’ last road trip was to Oklahoma where they took on Wichita State and Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

Live stats and scoring for the match versus Ole Miss will be available here. Live stats and scoring for the Mississippi State match will be available here.

Gamecock Notables

  • South Carolina is 8-6 on the season and 3-2 in SEC play. They Gamecocks are coming off of back-to-back conference wins after having made a huge comeback to take down No. 68 Kentucky and upsetting No. 23 Vanderbilt at home.
  • The Gamecocks have two singles players ranked inside the top-20 – No. 6 Ayana Akli and No. 16 Sarah Hamner.
  • Akli has held down the No. 1 position for the Gamecocks this season where she is a perfect 10-0. Overall Akli is 25-6 and has a 17-6 record over ranked opponents. She is currently on a 13-match win streak with ten of those wins being ranked. Her No. 6 ranking is the highest of her career.
  • Hamner has a 16-8 overall record this season and has a 4-3 record in dual play. She is 3-3 from the No. 2 position and won both of her last two singles matches.
  • Sophomore Gracie Mulville has also won both of her last two completed matches. Mulville plays at the No. 3 position for the team where she is 3-3.
  • Fellow sophomore Misa Malkin is also on a two match win streak and clinched the comeback win over Kentucky.
  • Akli and Hamner are both also ranked together in the doubles rankings at No. 70. The duo is 10-6 overall and 3-1 in dual play, all from the No. 1 position.

Scouting the Rebels

  • Ole Miss is 8-6 overall and 2-4 in SEC play. They are coming off of a road win at Missouri and their other SEC win was a 4-0 shutout of then-No. 58 Kentucky.
  • The Rebels have been lead this season by sophomore Anaelle Leclercq-Ficher. She is 5-11 overall and 3-6 from the No. 1 position.
  • The lone Rebel in the ITA singles rankings is sophomore Ludmila Kareisova. She primarily holds duties at the No. 2 singles position where she is 10-2 this season and has a perfect 6-0 record against SEC opponents.
  • Kareisova and Leclercq hold the top spot in Ole Miss’s doubles lineup together. The duo is 7-4 overall and 2-3 in SEC play.
  • While not currently in the ITA Team Rankings, Ole Miss has been ranked as high as No. 58 this season.

Scouting the Bulldogs

  • Mississippi State is 10-7 overall this season and 0-6 in conference play. They have a 10-3 record when playing at home.
  • The Bulldogs are not currently ranked but have seen time in the ITA Team Rankings at No. 69 this season.
  • The team is currently on a six-match losing streak and will host No. 19 Florida before the match versus South Carolina.
  • Graduate Emma Antonaki has lead the team this season from the No. 1 position where she is 10-5. She is 16-10 overall but has a 2-4 mark against SEC opponents.
  • Sophomore Maria Rizzolo is the only Bulldog in the rankings, coming in at No. 117. Rizzolo is 9-9 overall with a 5-7 mark in dual play and an 0-5 mark against SEC opponents.
  • Antonaki and fellow graduate Gia Cohen play at the No. 1 doubles position for Mississippi State. The duo is 10-5 overall and 5-3 in dual play.

For all the latest South Carolina women’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).

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