UVA, VCU rank among top 40 in the nation.
Riding a two-game winning streak, the South Carolina women’s tennis team is looking to keep momentum on their side as they face their toughest test of the season.
The Gamecocks will travel to Charlottesville, Va., this weekend to play the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University; both teams are ranked in the top 40 nationally.
“UVA this year is ranked 14 right now, but they are probably, in actuality, one of the top four teams in the country,” coach Kevin Epley said. “We’re really going to see how we stack up against the best and how much further we need to go.”
Epley said that the Gamecocks’ match with VCU last year went down to the last match before South Carolina won 4-3.
The No. 33 Gamecocks beat both East Tennessee State and College of Charleston last weekend, but know this weekend will be a challenging test. The team was scheduled to host Furman on Tuesday, but canceled the match due to the weather weather.
“It’s easier (competing) because you know how responsible you are and (that) they’re not going to give you anything, so you’re going to have to work harder,” senior Katerina Popova said. “There won’t be any free points, so you have to stay focused the whole time.”
To Epley, the team has strengths that could end up carrying them through the opposition.
“Our depth is our biggest strength,” he said. “We have some players that have some experience at the three, four, five, six level that can really create some damage. While we may not have that number-one player that is ranked top-10 in the country, we do have a lot of very solid players, and that goes all the way down our lineup.”
Five upperclassmen are returning to the team, including two seniors. On the other hand, the team has five underclassmen who haven’t experienced the “war-like mentality” of the SEC, Epley said.
The older players are looking to help the younger players get ready for this weekend and the rest of the season and their careers.
“You have to share your experiences with underclassmen. If you know something, just share it. If you see that they are struggling with something and you know why, just say it,” Popova said. “It’s not just the season; it’ll be the rest of their college career.”
The team’s mental strength will be a big factor for their play this weekend, and Popova expects that it will be a deciding component.
“Everybody has to fight. If everyone is competing, … it shows a strong mentality, (and) it can mentally affect the opponent,” she said. “It’s an interesting battle to see who can be mentally stronger.”
As South Carolina gets ready for its biggest challenge of the season so far, the team says it realizes that it will be a proving ground and a way to gauge what the team is moving toward this season.
“They’re going to have to stay in the point, and they are going to have to break through walls. When they get uncomfortable or they don’t feel like they’re hitting well, (they need) to be emotionally and mentally focused in such a way that they can still access their games and still fight and dig,” Epley said. “If we’re competing one through six, and everyone is laying it out on the line, and working and leaving it out on the court, we’ll be moving in the right direction.”