Women's Tennis . March 18, 2026

No. 24 Women's Tennis Begins Two-Match Homestand Thursday

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 24 South Carolina women’s tennis team opens a two-match homestand against No. 4 Auburn at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 19, and finishes the weekend hosting No. 17 Florida at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 21.

The program will welcome back Gamecock alumni ranging from 1974 to 2024, all weekend long.

ITA RANKINGS

In the latest edition of the ITA Team rankings, South Carolina fell two places to No. 24 after dropping two road matches against top 10 opponents. This is the sixth consecutive week the Gamecocks have been featured among the best in the country.
In the ITA Singles rankings, sophomore Helena Buchwald climbed 25 spots through the rankings and comes in at No. 52 this week. Kaitlyn Carnicella follows closely at No. 56.
Lauren Friedman and Buchwald made their way into the top 10 and sit at No. 9.

LAST TIME OUT

The Gamecocks traveled to Texas to take on then-No 9 Texas and then-No. 5 Texas A&M. South Carolina dropped its match 4-2 against the Longhorns and fell 4-0 to the Aggies.

Buchwald and Friedman earned a 6-3 win over their opponents from Texas, and their match against then-No. 11 Mia Kupres and Lucciana Perez from Texas A&M was 5-5, but went unfinished.

Buchwald and Jana Stojanova scored the team’s two points against Texas. Buchwald earned a 6-3, 6-4 upset win over then-No. 16 Anastasia Abbagnato, and Stojanova defeated Salma Drugdova 7-6(2), 6-4.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

Auburn comes into the match with a 23-1 overall record and is riding a 10-match winning streak. The Tigers’ only loss of the season came from No. 1 Georgia in the ITA Indoor Championship Semifinals, where the Bulldogs won 4-3 and went on to win the Championship.
The Tigers are undefeated in conference play and enter the match coming off a 4-0 sweep over Kentucky at home.
Auburn has won the doubles point in each of its 24 matches this dual season.
Six Tigers appear in this week’s ITA Singles rankings. Ashton Bowers (38), DJ Bennett (43), Ava Esposito (49), Ekaterina Khairutdinova (55), Angella Okutoyi (94) and Merna Refaat (122) represent Auburn.
The duo of Esposito and Bennett comes in at No. 16 in doubles, and Okutoyi and Refaat round it out at No. 20.

SERIES HISTORY

The Gamecocks hold a 33-11 advantage over the Tigers, claiming the last two matches.
During the 2024-25 season, the two teams met only once, with Carolina taking the win 4-2 over Auburn.

SCOUTING THE GATORS

Florida enters the week at No. 17 in the Team ITA rankings and is 10-3 overall. The Gators have a 5-2 record in conference play and are on a three-match winning streak against SEC foes. The team will travel to Athens to take on No. 1 Georgia (March 19) before taking on the Gamecocks.
Gabia Paskauskas (39), India Houghton (60), Nikola Daubnerova (69), Valery Gynina (78), Lucie Pawlak (105), Emily Seibold (116) and Brooke Black (123) represent the Gators in the ITA Singles rankings.
In doubles, Nikola Daubnerova and Xinyi Nong (34) are the Gators’ only duo in the ITA rankings.

SERIES HISTORY