Nationally ranked Gamecocks hand Aggie netters first home loss
Consistency and patience paid off for the No. 24 South Carolina women’s tennis team.
Kicking off a three-match Utah trip in Logan, the Gamecocks defeated Utah State 6-1, forcing the Aggies to beat themselves with mistakes.
“It was just us over-hitting, missing shots wide, in the net, long,” said USU Head Coach Chris Wright.
Not used to playing at a higher elevation where the ball flies faster and farther, South Carolina (10-4) was focusing on just hitting balls in.
“We were just trying to stay in the point and get balls back in play,” said USC’s Catherine Brown.
There were some adjustments for the Gamecocks to make, though.
“You have to move your feet quicker, but I think I had more of a problem with the long points because your breathing is heavier,” Brown said.
But South Carolina didn’t have too many long points to deal with.
“We were impatient,” Wright said. “Today it looked like if the ball came back to us three times we were making an error.”
At times, the Aggies (2-6) were going for too much on their shots instead of waiting for the right moment to attack.
“We need to be able to stay in the point longer when we do have the opportunity, just believe we’re going to get it and go after it,” Wright said.
Aggie Carolyn Larsen said she was definitely guilty of going for too much on some of her shots.
“That’s always my problem,” she said. “I just need to learn how to settle down and stroke the ball and not try to smash it every time.”
Going into the match, Wright said his team wasn’t intimidated, but some of the players put a lot of pressure on themselves to win.
“I was hitting really well all week and I felt really confident going into this match, just feeling really positive and wanting just to come out here and win, and then I just think I expected too much of myself,” Larsen said. “I didn’t fulfill my own requirements.”
Starting with doubles, the Aggies quickly fell behind, losing all at all three positions.
At No. 1 and No. 2, USC won by identical 8-3 scores with Kathy Boyanovich and Magda Wojdylo topping USU’s Caroline Pollock and Lindsey Bennion and Gamecocks Jodi Kenoyer and Danielle Wiggins defeating Larsen and Haley Hawkins.
South Carolina didn’t have much trouble at No. 3 either, with Brown and Justine Walsh victorious over Aggies Jill Smith and Andrea Hansen, 8-1.
In singles, Utah State was unable to rebound, as South Carolina quickly pulled away in the match. At No. 1, Boyanovich defeated Pollock, 6-2, 6-2, Kenoyer topped Larsen, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2, and Bennion fell to Wiggins, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 3.
In the other singles matches, Brown handled Hawkins, 6-0, 6-3 and Walsh won over Aggie Shelly Ferguson, 6-0,
6-1.
The only USU victory came at No. 6 where Smith defeated Audrey George in a shortened match.
Smith was down early, but had fought back to take a 3-2 lead when South Carolina defaulted the match due to travel arrangements.
“It was just disappointing because I was ready to play, and I wanted to play,” Smith said. “They’re a really good team, so it would have been exciting to get out there and see what I could have done against them.
“I work all week long to come and play these matches, and then when they default on me, there’s not much I can do about it,” she said.
Despite the loss, Wright said he expects the team to be able to rebound.
“I haven’t lost confidence in this group, I think they just held on to the last couple of losses a little bit too much,” Wright said, referring to a three-game road swing through California.
The Aggies played Big West foes Santa Barbara, Pacific and Cal Poly on the trip, losing to all three.
Against Santa Barbara on March 8, USU fell 7-0. In the next match, Smith picked up the lone Aggie singles victory in a 6-1 team loss to Pacific on March 10. Larsen and Hawkins also won their doubles match. In the final match of the trip March 11, Utah State lost 7-0 to Cal Poly.
–slbk5@cc.usu.edu