Friday, 01/27/2012

ATLANTA (Jan. 27, 2012) — The No. 27-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team scored a 4-1 victory over No. 43 William & Mary on Friday in the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Atlanta. The Gamecocks will face either No. 54 Georgia State or No. 13 Georgia Tech on Saturday at 2 p.m. for a shot at qualifying for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship over Feb. 10-13 in Charlottesville, Va.

The Gamecocks took the doubles point with wins on courts one and two. At one, Jaklin Alawi and Dijana Stojic cruised to an 8-3 win over Maria Belaya and Jeltje Loomans. Anya Morgina and Josefin Andersson clinched the point on court two, beating Anik Cepeda and Hope Johnson 8-5. Morgina and Andersson led 4-2, but Cepeda and Johnson pulled even at 5-all. The Gamecock duo then won three straight to close out the match. The No. 3 doubles match between Dominika Kanakova and Katerina Popova of Carolina and Katie Kargl and Marlen Mesgarzadeh of William & Mary was suspended with the Tribe leading 6-4.

While both teams struggled in singles, the Gamecocks managed to do enough to earn the victory. Morgina put South Carolina ahead 2-0 following a 6-3, 6-4 performance over Loomans at the No. 1 position, but the Tribe received its first point soon afterward with Mesgarzadeh beating Alawi 6-3, 6-4 on court two.

The remaining matches on court all went three sets. At five, Kanakova suffered an 11-9 loss in a first set tiebreaker to Johnson, but she came back to win 6-3 in the second. In the third, Kanakova grabbed the upper hand with a 2-1 lead and then never looked back, as she went on to win 6-4 to put South Carolina just one point from clinching the match.

Prior to Kanakova’s victory, it appeared Popova would provide the third point after winning the first set of her No. 4 singles match 6-3 versus Cepeda. Popova fell behind 4-2 in the second but fought back to lead 5-4 with a chance to serve out the match. Cepeda shrugged off two match points at 40-15 and eventually won the game and later forced a tiebreaker, which she won.

Pereira looked as if she might provide the fourth point after Kanakova’s win after taking a 6-5 lead in the third of her match with Kargl on court six. Pereira actually trailed 5-4 in the third before holding serve and then getting a break for a chance to serve it out. She went ahead 40-15 in the game for double match point, but Kargl came back to send the contest into a tiebreaker.

While Pereira was pulling ahead in the tiebreaker, Popova had gone ahead 5-3 with a chance to serve out the match again. It became a race to the finish to see which Gamecock would provide the clinching point and it was Popova who earned the win. Pereira had her match suspended with a 5-4 lead in the tiebreaker.

Stojic had her match at No. 2 singles suspended as well with a 5-4 lead in the third over Belaya. She lost the first set in a tiebreaker and trailed 4-2 in the second but rallied to win the second set 7-5. Stojic also trailed 3-2 in third before winning three of the next four games to pull ahead.

Singles
1. #20 Anya Morgina, USC, def. Jeltje Loomans, WM, 6-3, 6-4
2. Marlen Mesgarzadeh, WM, def. #33 Jaklin Alawi, USC, 6-3, 6-4
3. #80 Dijana Stojic, USC, vs. Maria Belaya, WM, 6-7, 7-5, 5-4 susp.
4. Katerina Popova, USC, def. Anik Cepeda, WM, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
5. Dominika Kanakova, USC, def. Hope Johnson, WM, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4
6. Adriana Pereira, USC, vs. Katie Kargl, WM, 7-6, 4-6, 6-6 susp.

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 5, 4

Doubles
1. Alawi/Stojic, USC, def. Belaya/Loomans, WM, 8-3
2. Josefin Andersson/Morgina, USC, def. Cepeda/Johnson, WM, 8-5
3. Kanakova/Popova, USC, vs. Kargl/Mesgarzadeh, WM, 4-6 susp.

Order of Finish: 1, 2