Teams to compete in kickoff meets
The USC men's and women's tennis teams will travel to their respective Indoor Tennis Association Kickoff Weekends for an opportunity to compete against out-of-region opponents they would not ordinarily see during their regular seasons.
The men's team will face University of California, Irvine, and William and Mary in Columbus, Ohio, while the women will head to Coral Gables, Fla., for matchups against Arizona State and Miami.
The men's squad is coming off a tough 6-1 loss to No. 3 Georgia last weekend. Freshman Chip Cox provided the lone point for the Gamecocks, maintaining his undefeated record in singles so far this season with a three-set win over Magin Ortiga. The women fared better in their most recent contest, defeating Furman 6-1 on Tuesday. USC won all three doubles matches and five of six singles matches. The lone loss came in first singles, as junior Anya Morgina was defeated by the Paladins' Monica Arguello, dropping her record to 0-2 on the season.
"It's tough at the No. 1 spot against anybody," coach Arlo Elkins said. "Everybody has good No. 1 players, and [Morgina]'s going to be facing those players. I think playing at the No. 1 spot just added a little pressure to her, and when you get that No. 1 spot, you think everyone's going to expect you to win every match. I think she's just going to have to settle into that position a little bit."
USC's team has not been able to train outside very much this spring, and one disadvantage Carolina will face this weekend is that the tournament will be held on outdoor courts.
"The thing that's going to be tough with this kickoff weekend is that all these other teams play outdoors all the time," Elkins said. "We're coming from a lot of indoor play. So we try to get out as much as we can. We'll get down there early enough that we can get a good practice in outdoors. We just hope that doesn't cost us any."
The matchup against Arizona will be especially exciting for USC because the two teams are so close in national rankings. The Sun Devils are No. 20 in the nation, while the Gamecocks are No. 21.
Because so many capable players are fighting for six spots in the lineup, the coaches have yet to determine the starting lineup against Arizona. But they hope to see improvement from every player on the team.
"I think the effort is there," Elkins said. "We still have to get the skill level up a little bit. These early matches are, in one sense, good because they get us playing right away, but it's also tough to tell who we're going to play in what position, and we have so many quick matches that we don't have a lot of time to make our minds up.
"We're still working on [the lineup]. We don't have any idea yet. Hopefully we'll know by Saturday."