Women’s tennis to open spring season Monday
Coming out of high school, Georgia Rose was recruited by USC coach Kevin Epley to play tennis for William & Mary, where Epley was coaching at the time.
Instead, she had a successful collegiate career at Northwestern, where she garnered both Big Ten Player of the Year and ITA Midwest Regional Senior of the Year honors to go with All-America nods in all four years.
But after three seasons on the coaching staff at Illinois, Rose has joined the Gamecocks as an assistant coach. She will make her USC debut when the women’s tennis team gets its spring schedule underway Monday with two home matches against in-state rivals Winthrop and USC Upstate.
“I knew that when I got back into college tennis that she would be top on my list to bring in as an assistant coach,” Epley said. “So far she’s been a great addition to the team, and it’s becoming more and more evident every day that we’re philosophically alike.”
South Carolina last took the court Nov. 4 in the New Mexico Fall Invitational to wrap up its 2012 fall campaign. In the meet, freshman Ximena Siles Luna and junior Dominika Kanakova both took singles titles in finals wins over New Mexico’s Kristin Eggleston and Utah’s Natasha Smith, respectively.
Siles Luna, a native of Lima, Peru, entered her freshman campaign with an already-impressive resume. She has been ranked as high as No. 167 on the International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit and owns a 62-35 singles record in the circuit to go with her 53-29 doubles mark.
“I was happy that she did very well,” coach Kevin Epley said. “But I think we did have some pretty high expectations of her coming in based on her junior wins and overall experience as a junior player.”
Siles Luna led South Carolina in singles wins during the fall season with a final mark of 12-2. She also carries a perfect 6-0 doubles record into the upcoming spring campaign.
The Winthrop Eagles have already played their first match of 2013, taking down Wofford 7-0 on Sunday. However, Epley is fixing his eyes upon his own players and their approach to the match rather than dwelling on what the opponents have done.
“Certainly having a match under your belt gets your competitive juices flowing,” Epley said. “But we’re just focusing on ourselves and being as match-ready as we can on that first day of competition.”
A player to watch for the Eagles, and Winthrop’s No. 1, is junior Andressa Garcia. In Sunday’s win over the Terriers, Garcia posted a 6-4, 6-1 singles victory to go with an 8-2 doubles win alongside freshman Tijana Uzelac. The trip to Columbia will be the second of an eight-game road trip for the Eagles.
Monday’s contest will be Upstate’s first of the spring season. The Spartans closed out their 2012 fall schedule on a high note with a convincing collection of victories at Gardner-Webb on Nov. 4. Two of Upstate’s doubles pairs went undefeated, while sophomore Isabel Von Stryk and junior Taylor Cohen each took all three of their singles matches, Von Stryk managing to do so in straight sets.
Monday’s competition will begin at 10 a.m. when South Carolina takes on Winthrop, and at 3 p.m. the Gamecocks will turn around to take on USC Upstate.
Epley carries a cautious optimism with him into the spring season and sees a strong upside for his Gamecock team.
“For the most part they’ve stepped up to the plate and have been pretty motivated and have come together as a team,” Epley said. “I think in a couple of months, getting some matches under our belt, they’re going to be a pretty tough team.”