Jan. 20, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina women’s tennis team heads to Greenville, S.C., on Wednesday to take on the Furman Paladins at 5 p.m.

The Gamecocks are coming off a 5-2 victory against BYU on Friday evening at the USC Field House. South Carolina lost the doubles point despite taking leads of 7-1, 7-2 and 6-1 at the first three positions, but countered in singles action by winning five of the six matches all in straight sets. Senior Suzanna Mansour clinched the victory for the Gamecocks with a win at the No. 5 position.

Wednesday serves as the season opener for Furman. The Paladins are unranked to begin the season, but the No. 33 Gamecocks will have their hands full with a team that features two players ranked Nos. 9 and 37 nationally. Laura Gioia holds down the ninth position and Monica Arguello is 37th.

South Carolina has its own ranked duo with junior Ana Marija Zubori at No. 14 and senior Gira Schofield at 71st. Should Schofield, who played No. 1 against BYU, take on Gioia it would mark the fourth meeting between the two and Schofield is undefeated in the series. Zubori played Gioia last season and lost 6-4, 6-3. Only Schofield has played Arguello, beating her last year in straight sets.

The Gamecocks do have history on their side when playing Furman. South Carolina is 25-6 all-time against the Paladins and all 25 wins have come consecutively beginning in 1978. Carolina’s last lost to Furman happened April 13, 1976. The Gamecocks defeated Furman 5-2 last year in Columbia, S.C., and were 7-0 winners the last time they traveled to Greenville.

After the mid-week match-up with Furman, the Gamecocks will head to Ohio to take on Miami (Ohio) at noon Friday and then travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to face No. 19 Michigan at 11 a.m. Sunday.