Gamecocks defeat VCU, fall to UVA in weekend clashes
The women’s tennis team got back in action this weekend against two formidable opponents in 44th-ranked VCU and 14th-ranked UVA. The No. 33 Gamecocks took care of business against Virginia Commonwealth and got their first big win of the season in a matchup that went 4-3.
Virginia, a perennial contender in women’s tennis, provided a much bigger test for South Carolina and ultimately gave the team its first loss of the season in a 5-2 bout.
Despite the overall score, the matches were, for the most part, extremely competitive and represent just another stepping-stone for a program that coach Kevin Epley feels is on the rise.
“I think it was a real positive weekend for us,” Epley said. “We played better in the second match. You know UVA has two new players in their lineup and the feeling is that they’re maybe top-five seeds in the country and you know we hung in tight with them…I mean really it was a 5-2 loss against them but really it could have gone either way.”
The Gamecocks had particularly good doubles play this weekend, especially from their No. 1 seeds, juniors Meghan Blevins and Elixane Lechemia. Against the Rams, the duo dismantled the VCU’s top pair 6-4 against the aforementioned 8th-ranked doubles team from UVA, they held their own in a 7-5 match which ended up being a pleasant surprise for coach Epley.
“I was very impressed,” Epley said. “We’ve been playing well with our doubles teams quite a bit…We just haven’t had a lot of time to figure out how we’re going to mix them up. We just kind of went with our instinct and tried to match the energy of the other team.”
Looking at the bigger picture, the women’s tennis program is one that, while achieving moderate success for a number of years, has been relatively sedentary in the national landscape. South Carolina’s end-of-year ranking for the past couple of seasons has been in the 30’s, which would be an astounding accomplishment for most teams.
This year’s group of 10, however, is not most teams. Already, Epley has noticed a myriad of changes that are putting the team in position to win big matches against some of the best competition the SEC has to offer. And in his opinion, it starts with emotional stability.
“I almost pulled my hair out last year with the ups and downs emotionally with the girls,” Epley said. “I mean, there was just no real consistency in terms of fighting, and we had a tendency to mope around. But I really feel like the team is coming together and the energy is moving in the right direction.”
Epley also expanded on the minute difference between goods teams and great teams and feels like his Gamecocks are well on their way to becoming the latter.
“To turn the corner, we’re just going to have to stay focused on the process of improvement from day to day,” Epley said. “If we can compete with UVA, clean up a few thing, get a little better…We’ll keep moving forward and have ourselves a big win at some point.”