COLUMBIA, South Carolina – The 25th-ranked Texas A&M women’s tennis team pulled off its highest ranked win of the season with a 6-1 victory over eighth-ranked South Carolina today.
“This was overall a great win for our team,” A&M first-year head coach Mark Weaver said. “I am so proud and happy for our group of young ladies. We have faced some adversity in recent weeks, and they couldn’t have responded any better today with a very decisive road win against a strong team in South Carolina.”
The Aggies improve to 13-7 overall, including 5-4 in Southeastern Conference matches only, and they also move to 4-0 against the Gamecocks since joining the SEC. South Carolina, which entered the match only one game behind league-leader Florida and aiming to stay in contention for its first-ever SEC title, falls to 14-4 overall and 6-2 in conference play.
Doubles play came down to an exciting finish, with a tiebreaker between each team’s top-ranked doubles tandem at the No. 1 court determining who would take a 1-0 lead.
A&M’s 44th-ranked duo of Rutuja Bhosale and Anna Mamalat had given the Aggies the early edge to begin doubles play, winning six consecutive games to close out a 6-2 victory over Caroline Dailey and Brigit Folland at the No. 2 line. It marked the fourth consecutive victory for the A&M pair, which improved to a team-leading 19-5 overall, including 5-1 in SEC matches.
The Gamecocks’ Ingrid Gamarra Martins and Rachel Rohrabacher then evened the race to the opening point with a 6-1 victory over A&M’s Ines Deheza and Domenica Gonzalez at No. 3.
Court 1 was on serve at 5-5 before A&M’s 42nd-ranked Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson won a no-ad point to go up a break, 6-5, against South Carolina’s 34th-ranked Hadley Berg and Paige Cline. The Gamecock duo broke back to even the score at 6-6, forcing the tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was knotted at 2-2 before Paalma and Pierson won five of the next six points to win, 7-3, giving A&M a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
“We won a very difficult doubles point, which is one of South Carolina’s strengths,” Weaver said. “Rutuja and Anna won decisively in the doubles, and Rachel and Eva came up with their best tennis when the doubles point was on the line.”
Singles got underway with South Carolina gaining the momentum by winning the first set on four of six courts. In the last first set to be completed, Bhosale pulled away for a 7-5 tiebreaker win against 102nd-ranked Cline at No. 3. They were only three points into the second set when play was suspended due to inclement weather.
At the time of the delay, South Carolina held 6-4, 3-2 and 7-5, 2-0 leads at the Nos. 1 and 2 courts, respectively, and A&M held 3-1 leads at Nos. 5 and 6 after dropping the first set on both courts. Court 4 was tied at 2-2 following a 6-3 first-set win by Deheza against 89th-ranked Berg. After a short time, the decision was made to complete the matches at the USC Field House four-court indoor facility.
Things quickly turned in the Aggies’ favor once play resumed.
“We had a decent start in the singles, but not great,” Weaver added. “Once the rain came, we talked things over in the locker room, and once we moved indoors, the match took on a completely different look. Everyone on our team raised their energy and raised their level of play. Before much tennis had been played inside, it was very obvious to me that we were going to be in a great position to get it done today.”
Deheza got the Aggies rolling as she gave A&M a 2-0 lead by reeling off four consecutive games to close out a 6-3, 6-2 win over the Gamecocks’ hottest player, Berg, who entered the match with a team-best 14-1 record in dual matches, including a 6-1 mark in SEC contests.
South Carolina got on the board and within 2-1 as 75th-ranked Gamarra Martins held off Pierson with a 7-5, 7-5 hard-fought victory at No. 2 before Bhosale completed a 7-6 (5), 6-4 straight-set victory over Cline at No. 3 to put A&M up, 3-1.
Gavrilovska and Gonzalez would go on to win their second sets to earn a split and force a third set. Gavrilovska, No. 32 in the national singles rankings, had won her second set, 7-5 and then raced to a 5-0 third-set lead over 67th-ranked Dailey before winning, 6-1, to clinch the victory for the Aggies.
After Gavrilovska put the Aggies ahead, 4-1, Siles Luna retired at No. 6, giving Mamalat a 2-6, 4-2 victory and A&M a 5-1 overall lead.
Gonzalez had won her second set against Folland by winning five consecutive games to close out a 6-1 win to earn the split. The third set followed the same pattern, with Gonzalez breaking away from a 1-1 tie by reeling off five straight games to close out the match with a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory.
The Aggies face their second consecutive top-10 opponent and close out the road portion of their SEC regular season schedule on Saturday, as they travel to Gainesville, Florida, to face sixth-ranked and defending SEC-champion Florida (13-2, 8-0 SEC). First serve is at 12 p.m. (CT) at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M women’s tennis. Aggie fans also can keep up to date with the A&M women’s tennis team on Twitter by following @AggieWTEN or on Facebook at Facebook.com/AggieWomensTennis.
#25 Texas A&M 6, #8 South Carolina 1
Carolina Tennis Center (outdoors)/USC Field House (indoors)
Columbia, South Carolina
March 31, 2016
Singles
1. #32 Saska Gavrilovska (A&M) def. #67 Caroline Dailey (SC), 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
2. #75 Ingrid Gamarra Martins (SC) def. Rachel Pierson (A&M), 7-5, 7-5
3. Rutuja Bhosale (A&M) def. #102 Paige Cline (SC), 7-6 (5), 6-4
4. Ines Deheza (A&M) def. #89 Hadley Berg (SC), 6-3, 6-2
5. Domenica Gonzalez (A&M) def. Brigit Folland (SC), 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
6. Anna Mamalat (A&M) def. Ximena Siles Luna (SC), 2-6, 4-2 (retired)
Doubles (A&M wins the point)
1. #42 Eva Paalma/Pierson (A&M) def. #34 Berg/Cline (SC), 7-6 (3)
2. #44 Bhosale/Mamalat (A&M) def. Dailey/Folland (SC), 6-2
3. Gamarra Martins/Rachel Rohrabacher (SC) def. Deheza/ Gonzalez (A&M), 6-1
Order of finish
Singles: 4, 2, 3, 1, 6, 5
Doubles: 2, 3, 1
Team records:
Texas A&M: 13-7, 5-4 SEC
South Carolina: 14-4, 6-2 SEC
Texas A&M Pronunciation Guide:
Rutuja Bhosale roo-too-jah bo-slay
Ines Deheza ee-NAY de-HAY-za
Saska Gavrilovska saush-ka gav-ril-ahv-ska
Stefania Hristov steff-on-ya RIS-tov
Anna Mamalat anna MAM-ah-LOT
Eva Paalma A-va paul-ma
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics