Gamecocks adapt lineup to Stojic’s injury, absence
The No. 26-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team will return home after a trip out west to take on rival Clemson at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Carolina Tennis Center.
Clemson (7-2), ranked No. 17, will be coming to Columbia hungry for a win after a loss to No. 13 Texas last Sunday, and then a 10-day layoff. The Tigers’ only other loss this season was to a top-10 Michigan team at the ITA Team National Indoor Championships at the University of Virginia earlier this month. The Gamecocks (4-1) return home after a successful trip to California, defeating both schools they played. If the Gamecocks are going to take down their rival, they’ll have to do so without the presence of third singles and first doubles player Dijana Stojic, who will undergo back surgery Wednesday morning and will be expected to miss a month of action, according to coach Arlo Elkins.
“We’re going to have to have a huge effort, and the other players are going to have to step up,” Elkins said on playing the match without Stojic. “We’ll definitely be fired up, but (her injury) forces us to change the lineup for both singles and doubles.”
Stojic and her partner, transfer Jaklin Alawi, had been unbeaten at the first doubles position this season, a potential loss being suspended against Georgia Tech when they were behind 5-7 in a pro set to eight. Elkins had praise for Clemson’s program and knows the Tigers will be a tough squad to beat, especially after finding out he has to shuffle his lineup on such short notice.
“They’ve been really good the last few years, and they’re really good again this year,” Elkins said. “We just have to go out there, do our best and try to outwork them.”
In addition to Alawi, who is the No. 59 singles player in the country, South Carolina is led by No. 29-ranked senior Anya Morgina. Clemson counters with a top single player of its own, senior Keri Wong, one of the better singles players in the nation. She will likely go up against Morgina at first singles. Elkins said it was unclear as of now how the Gamecocks would change their lineup without Stojic, particularly at doubles, where her absence will leave players in the doubles lineup with a different partner, most notably Alawi.
“That’s something that we’ll decide after practice tomorrow,” Elkins said. We’ll have to play around a little bit and see if we can put together a doubles team. We don’t really know yet.”
Elkins had a great deal of praise for Alawi, who came in this season as a transfer from Long Beach State in California.
“She got out [to Long Beach State] and didn’t like it, so she transferred here,” he said. We’re really glad she got here. She jumped into the No. 2 spot, and she’s done really well for us. We hope she can continue at the same pace she’s at now.”
Key injury aside, the Gamecocks will be looking to build off their performance out in California, where they defeated No. 35 San Diego 5-2 and shut out another West Coast Conference opponent, Loyola Marymount. Elkins seemed pleased with his group’s hard work in winning both matches.
“We talk to our girls about outworking our opponents all the time,” Elkins said. “That’s what we do, we try and work a little bit harder than our opponents, and that’s what they did out there in California ... If you get outworked in a match, you’re going to lose it.”
Wednesday afternoon, the Gamecock women will try and build off their recent success and defeat rival Clemson. Beating a top-20 team with an altered lineup might not be easy, but the Gamecocks will look to take their coach’s advice and outwork the Tigers for a win.