Men, women hit road to separate venues
After a pair of wins in a doubleheader against Charlotte and Appalachian State, South Carolina’s men’s tennis team will hit the road this weekend, heading to Raleigh to compete against North Carolina State on Sunday.
Last year’s Gamecocks defeated the Wolfpack 4-3, taking the doubles point and three of six singles matches. Current players Alexander Kostanov and Johannes Pulsfort won in fourth and fifth singles, respectively. This year, however, Kostanov and Pulsfort enter the weekend placed higher in USC’s lineup.
Kostanov currently leads the Gamecocks with 11 singles victories on the season, two of which came last weekend in three-set matches. Ivan Machado, who has filled the spot of No. 1 singles for most of the year, is second on the team with 10.
Men’s coach Josh Goffi was pleased with his team’s play against Appalachian State in particular, citing its efforts and focus as something that has been lacking at some points during the season. USC will look to bring the same intensity to achieve a victory over No. 56 N.C. State.
The women’s team will look to build on the momentum from its 5-2 victory over Florida International last weekend as it travels north to take on Purdue and Illinois.
“They’re both nationally ranked teams, so they obviously present a big challenge for us, and they’re on the road, which also makes it difficult,” women’s coach Arlo Elkins said. “We’re starting to pick up our schedule a little bit with ranked teams and getting ready to start the SEC. We hope to have a good performance this weekend.”
The Gamecocks did not play Purdue in 2010, but they notched a 4-3 win over Illinois at home. After losing the doubles point, USC fought back to win four of six singles matches. The team’s top two players this year, Anya Morgina and Dijana Stojic, won matches in third and second singles, respectively.
Morgina has won 10 matches so far in the 2010-11 season, and Madeleine Saari-Bystrom and Miljana Jocic share the team lead with 11.
Carolina has found a consistent No. 1 doubles team in Stojic and Dominika Kanakova, who won both matches they played last weekend. In its 7-0 loss to Arizona State, the team defeated the Sun Devils’ Kelcy McKenna and Micaela Hein, the No. 28 doubles team in the nation, for its only win.
“They will [play first doubles] through this weekend,” Elkins said. “We’re going to probably be pretty consistent with our lineup. We’ll start to make adjustments and changes after this week.”
One welcome change to Carolina’s lineup will be the addition of Josefin Andersson, who missed the entire fall season due to injury.
“She’s still coming back from that injury, and we’re taking it slow,” Elkins said. “But she’s going to be a big part of this team, and she’s going to really start to pick up what she does. We don’t want to stick her out there before she’s ready. But she’ll play this weekend.”