Women’s tennis continues Sunday-match struggles
The South Carolina women’s tennis team’s 5-2 loss at the hands of No. 9 Texas A&M Sunday captured what has plagued the Gamecocks all season: an inability to finish. Even with a decisive 6-1 victory over Missouri on Friday, it is Sunday’s match that appears to define the weekend.
From start to finish against the Aggies, No. 42 South Carolina had multiple chances to seize control of the match. After freshman Brigit Folland and senior Katerina Popova dropped their first doubles match of the year, junior Elixane Lechemia and senior Dominika Kanakova tried to hold on to the 4-1 lead they had built in the No. 1 doubles match.
With junior Meghan Blevins and freshman Caroline Dailey seemingly in control of the No. 3 doubles match, the doubles point rested with Lechemia and Kanakova. However, the duo surrendered four-consecutive games before levying the set up at 6-all, only to ultimately fall 8-6.
As a whole, coach Kevin Epley was not as disappointed in his team’s effort level as much as he was with his team’s execution.
“We competed a little better today and that’s something we did not do against Clemson,” Epley said. “But we’re just not closing things out.”
The Gamecocks appeared to leave the misstep in doubles behind early in singles play, swiftly grabbing three first sets and leading on court-five where sophomore Ximena Siles Luna was up a break.
While Blevins and Dailey each cruised to straight-set victories to give South Carolina the momentary lead, Popova struggled after winning her first set. The senior from Moscow only won two games over her final two sets, effectively ending her nine-match winning streak.
Meanwhile, Lechemia appeared to be breaking the trend on court-one against No. 15 Cristina Stancu, racing out to a 3-1 lead in the second set by playing the serve-and-volley after dropping the first. The junior lefty allowed her opponent back into the set, though, eventually losing the match in a second set tiebreaker.
Despite the early lead, Siles Luna struggled to find her groove as she dropped 10 of the last 13 games to fall in straight sets. Folland kept things interesting for a moment, however, erasing 4-1 and 5-3 deficits in the second set already down a set to win 7-5 to keep the Gamecocks’ hopes alive. Folland was unable to complete the comeback, dropping the third set after Lechemia’s defeat had determined the outcome of the match.
Although South Carolina looked ready to break through early in the second set, Epley noted the team was not quick enough in their attack.
“We get a momentum shift in the second set, we fight our way in, but we came out really slow and didn’t have the correct energy,” he said.
The Gamecocks are now just 3-3 on Sundays this season opposed to 7-0 on every other day of the week.
South Carolina will wrap up a ten-match home stand on Saturday when it hosts Florida. Until then, Epley figures to continue searching for answers.
“The bottom line is Texas A&M stepped up when they needed to and we didn’t,” he said. “It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating because we’re right there and the things we’re talking about are not being done.”