The first day of play in the Michigan Invitational was tough sledding for the Gamecocks women's tennis team in the singles department, where they lost six of seven matches to host No. 16 Michigan.
The lone win last weekend came from freshman Hadley Berg who defeated Michigan’s Mira Ruder-Hook 7-5, 6-3. In doubles against No. 31 Texas Tech, the Gamecocks were able to take two out of three with wins coming from the tandems of Brigit Folland/Hadley Berg (7-5) and Ximena Siles Luna/Caroline Dailey (7-5).
After his team’s struggles in singles play, head coach Kevin Epley was less concerned with the team’s margin of defeat and more concerned with just getting back out on the court.
“Michigan is a very good team. They have a lot of talented players," Epley said. "And I know people might look at that and say, ‘Wow they got their butts whooped,’ but we got a win out of Hadley Berg which is huge for her being a freshman. We also took them to three sets against their three top players. Also, that was our first match against real competition, so there’s plenty of time for improvement. I’m not worried.”
Day two on the court was just the opposite, as the Wolverines were took a clean sweep against South Carolina in the doubles setting while the Gamecocks took four victories against No. 39 South Florida. Three out of the top four players in Epley’s rotation got wins, including No. 1 Caroline Dailey (6-2, 6-2), No. 3 Brigit Folland (6-0, 3-6, 6-2) and Ximena Siles Luna (6-1, 6-1).
The final day of play featured a sweep in doubles by the Gamecocks over the Bulls with the top two tandems for South Carolina featuring Berg/Dailey and Folland/Looney taking 6-1 victories. In singles, the Gamecocks lost 3-2 to Texas Tech. The two wins, however, came against two of the Red Raiders’ top three seeds, including No. 89 Sarah Dvorak, who was defeated by Hadley Berg, 6-3, 6-3. Brigit Folland collected the other win (3-6, 6-3, 6-2).
Epley said that he thought his team looked a little rusty, but he was encouraged his underclassmen's play.
"I thought a couple players were a little slow coming out of the gate, but you always expect that the first weekend of play,” Epley said. “Like I said, I’m not worried. I mean, the fact that four out of our top five singles players are underclassmen and the fact that they’re holding their weight is impressive enough, so they’ll have plenty of time to get better and I expect us to have a pretty good season.”
South Carolina begins dual match play Friday in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a doubleheader against Grand Canyon and Northern Arizona.