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Women’s Tennis Opens SEC Season on the Road
Women's Tennis  . 

Women’s Tennis Opens SEC Season on the Road

Columbia, S.C. – ­No. 14 South Carolina women’s tennis will begin the SEC season on the road this year with its first stops at Texas A&M and LSU. The Gamecocks will open the slate against the No. 21-ranked Aggies on Fri., March 1 at 6:00 p.m. ET and will then head to Louisiana to take on the No. 63 Tigers on Sun., March 3 at noon ET.

Live streaming against Texas A&M will be available here with live stats available here. Against LSU, live stats can be found here with live streaming here.

Gamecock Noatbles

  • South Carolina is ranked No. 14 in the latest ITA Team Rankings, the team’s highest ranking since the beginning of the 2020 season.
  • The Gamecocks are 8-1 heading into SEC play with their lone loss coming at the hands of then-No. 4 Georgia at a neutral site. The team has only played one true road game this season at Wake Forest where they came out on top 4-3 in a dramatic comeback victory.
  • South Carolina is the only team in the country with two players ranked in the top-7 of the ITA singles rankings in No. 6 Sarah Hamner and No. 7 Ayana Akli. Graduate Shahar Biran also represents the team in the singles rankings at No. 119.
  • Akli has handled duties at the top of the singles lineup for the team where she is 5-2. The graduate is 18-6 overall and was the national runner-up at the ITA Fall National Championships.
  • Hamner enters the SEC season with a perfect 7-0 dual singles record and a team-leading 20-5 overall record. She is currently on an eight-match singles win streak and has 12 ranked wins under her belt this season.
  • Biran has been a consistent No. 3 for the Gamecocks this season where she is 5-2 and has won four of her last five matches.
  • Also with an impressive dual singles record is junior Misa Malkin who is 5-1 from No. 4 in the lineup. Malkin in 12-9 overall and has won all five of her dual singles matches in straight sets.
  • In the ITA Doubles Rankings, Akli is ranked at No. 45 with Hamner and at No. 49 with Olympe Lancelot.
  • Akli and Lancelot are 4-2 from the top of the doubles lineup and 7-2 overall. They have a ranked win over then-No. 15 Guillermina Grant and Mai Nirundorn of Georgia on their resume.
  • Akli and Hamner are 1-1 from the No. 1 position this season and 4-5 overall. The All-American duo made it to the quarterfinals of the 2023 NCAA Doubles Tournament last season.

Scouting the Aggies

  • Texas A&M is ranked No. 21 in the latest ITA Team Rankings but began the season ranked at No. 2 in the country. The team is 8-5 overall and 4-0 when playing on their home courts.
  • Texas A&M is home to top-ranked Mary Stoiana as well as No. 19 Nichole Khirin and No. 29 Mia Kupres.
  • Stoiana is 17-2 overall this season and 8-1 from the No. 1 position. She enters the weekend on a four-match win streak.
  • Khirin is 13-4 overall and 9-2 in dual play with a 9-1 record from the No. 2 position.
  • Kupres is 12-4 overall and 8-2 in dual play. She has a 7-1 mark at No. 3 in the lineup.
  • Stoiana and Kupres are also ranked together in the ITA Doubles Rankings at No. 4. The duo is 15-3 overall and 9-2 in dual play.

Series History

  • South Carolina narrowly leads the all-time series against Texas A&M 11-9, however the Aggies have won each of the last four meetings.
  • The two teams first faced in 1988 and have faced every year since Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012.
  • South Carolina’s last win in College Station was a 4-0 sweep in 2019.

Scouting the Tigers

  • LSU is ranked No. 63 in the lastest ITA Team Rankings and has a 7-2 record going into the weekend with a perfect 6-0 mark at home. The team’s only losses come at the hands of then-No. 6 Pepperdine and at SMU. They will take on No. 19 Florida before the meeting with the Gamecocks.
  • Kinaa Graham is the only Tiger in the singles ranking at No. 112. She is 13-8 overall and 1-3 in dual play.
  • The Tigers have tried a variety of lineups this season with three different players taking turns at the No. 1 position. Overall the team is 3-4 from the top spot in the lineup.
  • In dual singles play, LSU has an overall record of 27-13 with the majority of those wins coming from the No. 3 and 4 positions where they are 7-0 and 7-1 respectively.
  • There are no Tiger pairs in the ITA Doubles Rankings, however Graham and Snita Sahdieva are 8-2 overall together and 4-1 from the No. 1 position.

Series History

  • South Carolina leads the all-time series against LSU 27-7 and holds the longest win streak of the series with 14 wins between 1992-2004.
  • The two teams first faced in 1985 with the Tigers winning 4-5. South Carolina went on to win the next 14 meetings.
  • South Carolina’s last win in Baton Rouge came in a 6-1 romp in 2022.
  • The Gamecocks have won five of the last six matches.

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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