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South Carolina Hands Women's Tennis 4-1 Loss In First Round Of SEC Tournament

Lady Rebels must now wait to see if they will get an NCAA invite.

April 20, 2006

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Ole Miss women's tennis team won the doubles point against South Carolina in the first round of the 2006 SEC Tennis Championships, but could not close out some sets in singles, falling 4-1 to the Gamecocks Thursday morning at the Ring Tennis Complex.

The Lady Rebels fell to 11-9, while South Carolina improved to 12-9 and moves on to face the No. 1 seed, Florida Friday in a quarterfinal round. Ole Miss will now have to play the waiting game to see if they will get an invite to the NCAA Championships. The selections will be announced May 3.

While the on-court temperature was logged at 97 degrees, head coach Mark Beyers said heat was not a factor in the loss.

"There were a lot of close matches today that we could have won. Every time we were ahead 4-3 we let them come back, but they were really close sets. I don't think the heat was an issue today. We were fortunate to have some heat during practice on Monday and Tuesday. It wasn't much of an issue as not being able to close those sets."

Unlike the first meeting this year, the Lady Rebels were able to secure the opening point with huge wins at the top two spots. After South Carolina claimed the No. 3 position, 8-2, the Ole Miss duo of Virginia Tomatis and Ilona Somers won their match at No. 1, 8-6. Nika Koukhartchouk and Kseniia Tokarieva trailed 5-6 in their match at No. 2, but came back to win it 8-6 to clinch the point.

This marks only the third time this year the Lady Rebels have won the doubles point and failed to win the match. They won the doubles point at Alabama and against Arkansas and lost both matches 4-3.

South Carolina answered quickly to tie the match. In a battle of the SEC Co-Freshmen of the Year, Gamecock Gira Schofield handed Lady Rebel Kseniia Tokarieva a 6-1, 6-1 loss at No. 1 singles. Tokarieva is now 2-2 there.

"I didn't play my best today and I feel bad about that," Tokarieva said. "Gira Schofield is a really good player. She attacked every ball and played very well."

Tomatis dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision to USC's Megan McGavock at No. 5 singles as South Carolina gained a 2-1 lead. Gamecock Miranda Gutierrez held of Lady Rebel Preethi Subramanian in a second set tiebreaker to put her team within one of clinching. After winning the first set 6-3, Gutierrez won the second set tiebreaker 8-6.

In the previous meeting, Somers got the better of her opponent, Natasa Vuckovic, winning 7-6, 6-0. This time however, it was Vuckovic who came away victorious to send her team to the quarterfinal round. In a tight match, Vuckovic won 7-5, 6-4.

When the match was stopped, Mimi Renaudin was up a set and all even in the second at No. 6 singles, and Nika Koukhartchouk had split sets with her opponent and was on serve in the third at No. 3 singles.

DOUBLES
#1 Tomatis/Somers (OM) def. Schofield/Vuckovic (USC) 8-6
#2 Tokarieva/Koukhartchouk (OM) def. Lucas/Gutierrez (USC) 8-6
#3 McGavock/Walsh (USC) def. Subramanian/Cochran (OM) 8-2
SINGLES
#1 Gira Schofield (USC) def. Kseniia Tokarieva (OM) 6-1, 6-1
#2 Natasa Vuckovic (USC) def. Ilona Somers (OM) 7-5, 6-4
#3 Nika Koukhartchouk (OM) vs. Christyn Lucas (USC) 6-3, 4-6, 1-2
#4 Miranda Gutierrez (USC) def. Preethi Subramanian (OM) 6-3, 7-6(6)
#5 Megan McGavock (USC) def. Virginia Tomatis (OM) 6-4, 6-3
#6 Mimi Renaudin (OM) vs. Justine Walsh (USC) 6-3, 6-6