No. 27 Gamecocks Drop Road Contest Against Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 27 South Carolina women’s tennis fell to No. 57 Arkansas, 4-1, in Fayetteville, Ark., on Sunday afternoon.
In their first match as a pair, Kaitlyn Carnicella and Jana Stojanova grabbed an early 4-2 lead from the No. 2 doubles spot. The Gamecock duo went on to claim the lone doubles win of the day, defeating their opponent 6-3. Jane Dunyon and Sara Borkop dropped their court 6-1, leading it to all come down to the No.1 South Carolina duo. Despite being down 5-0, Lauren Friedman and Helena Buchwald battled back to earn three straight points. Friedman and Buchwald fought hard, but Arkansas was able to secure the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead.
Heading into singles play, four Gamecocks tied things up or took a lead after being down against their respective Arkansas opponent. Borkop was the first to notch an opening set win. Carnciella and Buchwald forced a tiebreaker, said from the first and second position, respectively.
Buchwald grabbed a 7-6(3) first set win and then went on to get South Carolina on the board first after earning a 6-2 second set win as well. Carnicella was able to bounce back and head into extra play as well. Over on court three, Borkop’s opponent fought back and pushed play to a third frame.
Stojanova was the third Gamecock heading into a third set after winning her opening frame 7-5. Taylor Goetz unfortunately dropped her game on court four, edging the Razorbacks 2-1 in the overall match. Jane Dunyon also dropped her match, extending Arkansas’ lead to 3-1.
On court 1, Carnciella put up a fight, coming back from being down 5-1 to score two straight points to cut her opponent’s lead to two. However, the late surge came up short when Arkansas claimed the court and clinched the overall match. Stojanova and Borkop were leading their respective courts 5-3 before play was halted.
South Carolina returns home for a pair of matches on Thursday (Tennessee) and Saturday (Kentucky).
No. 27 South Carolina 1, No. 57 Arkansas 4
Doubles (order of finish: 3,2,1)
- No. 9 Helena Buchwald & Lauren Friedman (SC) vs. No. 39 Caroli Gomez Alonso & Anet Koskel (Ark)
- Kaitlyn Carnicella & Jana Stojanova (SC) def. Arina Babenko & Brooke Schafer (Ark) 6-3
- Jimena Gomez Alonso & Alexan Panagiotidou (Ark) def. Jane Dunyon & Sara Borkop (SC) 6-1.
Singles (order of finish 2, 4, 6, 1)
- No. 35 Caroli Gomez Alonso (Ark) def. No. 56 Kaitlyn Carnicella (SC) 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3
- No. 52 Helena Buchwald (SC) def. Brooke Schafer (Ark) 7-6(3), 6-2
- Sara Borkop (SC) vs. Anet Koskel (Ark) 6-4, 4-6, 5-3 unf.
- Alexan Panagiotidou (Ark) def. Taylor Goetz (SC) 6-3, 6-3
- Jana Stojanova (SC) vs. Arina Babenko (Ark) 7-5, 1-6, 5-3 unf.
- Jimena Gomez Alonso (Ark) def. Jane Dunyon (SC) 7-5, 6-3
