The 28th-ranked women's tennis team won its first two matches of the season Sunday after a double-header against South Alabama and Furman.
South Alabama was the Gamecocks' first opponent of the day. Junior Brigit Folland and freshman Rachel Rohrabacher began doubles play with an easy 6-1 victory, followed by a match consisting of the freshman tandem Paige Cline and Ingrid Gamarra Martins. The freshmen pulled out their first career match victories defeating South Alabama's Alexandria Stiteler and Cinta Maria Papke 6-4.
"I'm real proud of the freshmen. I thought they played well in particular, and some of the veterans played pretty well too," Coach Kevin Epley said.
Senior Ximena Stiles Luna held her opponent Michaela Meszarosova to only one point dominating singles play for the women 6-0, 6-1. Folland, Martins and sophomore Hadley Berg were undefeated in their first sets, 6-0, and closed their matches 6-3. Cline and South Alabama's Laura Valkova both had close first sets 7-5, but Cline was able to secure the win in the second set. Valkova fell to junior Caroline Dailey in the second set 3-6 but made a move and won the match 1-0 in the tiebreaker.
South Alabama struggled in singles play, as Luna, Berg, Martins and Folland all swept their first sets, 6-0, before finishing off their matches with a second set victory. Dailey was the sole Gamecock to lose her match on Sunday, losing in a third set tiebreaker.
The women carried the momentum gained from their first match into the final match against the in-state opponent Furman Paladins. Berg stood out in singles play, winning her match without allowing a point, as did the 43rd-ranked Cline, who won 6-2, 6-1. The freshman received praise from Coach Epley after winning all four matches Sunday.
"Paige is something else. She's feisty. It's good to see that," Epley said.
Cline was ranked a five-star recruit upon entering South Carolina, according to TennisRecruiting.net.
Again, Dailey had difficulty in her singles match but was able to bounce back from an early loss by defeating Katarina Weymouth 7-6, 7-5.
Martins and Dailey won the first doubles match 6-2 followed by Rohrabacher and sophomore Megen Cochran's victory over Furman's Karlee Bryde and Harper Caswell, 6-3.
The Gamecocks swept Furman 7-0 and are off to a 2-0 start in the spring season.
The team will host a doubleheader against the College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina next Saturday.