Feb. 18, 2012

SAN DIEGO — The No. 26 South Carolina women’s tennis team (4-1) earned a 7-0 win over Loyola Marymount (0-6) at the Hogan Tennis Center in San Diego on Saturday.

South Carolina swept all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead heading to singles play. Despite playing the most games of all three contests, Jaklin Alawi and Dijana Stojic finished first with an 8-6 triumph over Elisaveta Pironkova and Reka Rohonyi. Alawi and Stojic had a 5-2 lead before Pironkova and Rohonyi rallied to win three straight games to make it 5-all. With the score tied 6-all, Alawi and Stojic broke serve and Stojic held to move the duo’s record to 4-0 this spring at No. 1 doubles.

Less than a minute after Alawi and Stojic’s win, the Gamecocks’ No. 3 tandem of Adriana Pereira and Katerina Popova scored an 8-4 victory over Ashley Anderson and Tory Parravi. South Carolina actually trailed 2-1 in the match after three games before winning seven of the next nine games to snag the win.

The final match on court two saw Anya Morgina and Dominika Kanakova pick up an 8-3 win against Claudia Razzeto and Miya Jin. Like Pereira and Popova, the Gamecock duo trailed 2-1 after the first three games. Once Carolina took a 3-2 advantage, LMU managed to tie the score again at 3-all, but Morgina and Kanakova seized control of the match and recorded the next five games in their favor.

“In doubles, we got down on almost all the courts in the first few games,” associate head coach Katarina Petrovic said. “Once they figured out the players and how they play, we were good to go. They played much different than San Diego did yesterday. San Diego played a little bit more defensive and Loyola was a little more aggressive.”

The Gamecocks’ next three points in singles all came within a minute of each other. Alawi finished first with a 6-0, 6-4 victory against Razzeto on court two, followed by Stojic’s 6-3, 6-3 victory against Jin at the No. 3 position, and Popova clinched the match at No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-0 versus Anderson.

Two of the final three matches on court went three sets. At one, Morgina recorded a 6-1, 3-6, (10-3) win over April Bisharat on court one to stay undefeated this spring at 4-0. Kanakova provided the sixth point for South Carolina with a 6-2, 7-5 win against Parravi at the fourth spot, and Pereira got a three set win at six against Pironkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

South Carolina will return home for the first of three straight homes matches Wednesday when it hosts instate rival No. 17 Clemson at 2 p.m. at Carolina Tennis Center.

“Tennis is like any other sport; the more matches or more games you play, you get better,” Petrovic said. “With this trip, even though it was tough to play two matches back-to-back, the girls got more experience. They feel much more comfortable when they play matches. This trip is going to help us out, especially for the next three matches.”

Singles
1. #29 Anya Morgina, USC, def. April Bisharat, LMU, 6-1, 3-6, (10-3)
2. #59 Jaklin Alawi, USC, def. Claudia Razzeto, LMU, 6-0, 6-4
3. #119 Dijana Stojic, USC, def. Miya Jin, LMU, 6-3, 6-3
4. Dominika Kanakova, USC, def. Tory Parravi, LMU, 6-2, 7-5
5. Katerina Popova, USC, def. Ashley Anderson, LMU, 6-2, 6-0
6. Adriana Pereira, USC, def. Elisaveta Pironkova, LMU, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3

Order of Finish: 2, 3, 5, 1, 4, 6

Doubles
1. Alawi/Stojic, USC, def. Pironkova/Reka Rohonyi, LMU, 8-6
2. Kanakova/Morgina, USC, def. Razzeto/Jin, LMU, 8-3
3. Pereira/Popova, USC, def. Anderson/Parravi, LMU, 8-4

Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2