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Women’s Tennis Heads to Athens for ITA Kickoff Weekend
Women's Tennis  . 

Women’s Tennis Heads to Athens for ITA Kickoff Weekend

Athens, Ga. – ­South Carolina women’s tennis will travel to Athens, Ga., to compete in the ITA Kickoff Weekend, hosted by Georgia. Matches will take place at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex and will run Fri., Jan. 26-Sat., Jan. 27.

Second-seeded South Carolina will face No. 3 seed Arizona on Friday beginning at 11:00 a.m. Following South Carolina’s match, host No. 4 Georgia will face USF at 2:30 p.m.

The winners of the two matches will face on Saturday in the championship match at 2:30 p.m. following the consolation match at 11:00 a.m.

The ITA Kickoff Weekend events are hosted by 15 sites across the country with 60 team competing for 15 available spots at the ITA Indoor National Championships in Seattle, Wash. Teams at each site were selected via a summer draft where coaches had the opportunity to pick where they would like to play.

Admission to all matches is free and open to the public. Those who cannot attend in-person can view live streaming and scoring here. More information on the events of the weekend can be found here.

Gamecock Notables

  • South Carolina has started the dual season 2-0 with sweeps of Coastal Carolina and Presbyterian.
  • Graduate Ayana Akli is 14-4 in singles this season with nine of her wins coming over ranked opponents. Akli held down the top spot in the lineup during South Carolina’s opening day.
  • Junior Sarah Hamner has been a consistent No. 2 for South Carolina this dual season, having gone 2-0 through the first two matches.
  • In the ITA singles rankings, Hamner sits at No. 4 in the nation, Akli at No. 6, and graduate Shahar Biran at No. 76.
  • Through the first two dual matches of the season, the Gamecocks were near perfect with only one set dropped across both matches.

Scouting the Wildcats

  • Arizona is 4-1 on the season with sweeps over UC San Diego, Grand Canyon, Michigan State, and Missouri. Their one loss came at the hands of BYU in a 4-1 result.
  • Arizona ended the 2023 season ranked No. 50 in the country with a 17-13 overall record

Scouting the Bulldogs

  • Georgia opened the season as the No. 3 team in the country and has since dropped to No. 4 after a 0-7 loss against No. 1 North Carolina.
  • The Bulldogs have five players represented in the ITA Singles Rankings – No. 30 Dasha Vidmanova, No. 35 Alexandra Vecic, No. 70 Anatasiia Lopata, No. 108 Mai Nirundorn, and No. 116 Mell Reasco.
  • In the doubles rankings, Nirundorn pairs with Guillermina Grant as the No. 15 team in the country while Vidmanova pairs with Aysegul Mert to be the No. 58 team.

Scouting the Bulls

  • South Florida is off to a 1-0 start on the year with a 7-0 sweep over Florida Gulf Coast.
  • USF ended the 2023 season ranked No. 64 in the country with an overall record of 13-9.

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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