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No. 13 USC Women’s Tennis Prepares for Rematch with South Carolina in Round of 16
May 07, 2019 | Women's Tennis, Features
THIS WEEK
The No. 13 USC women's tennis team continues their pursuit of a national title with a trip to Columbia, S.C. for the NCAA Round of 16. USC will face off against South Carolina on Saturday (May 11) at 11 a.m. PT. This will be the Trojan's second encounter with the Gamecocks this season. USC opened the 2019 dual match season with an upset win over South Carolina in Melbourne, Australia at the Australian Open. The Women of Troy look to stay undefeated all-time against the Gamecocks and hope to secure placement in the final rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The eight teams that advance will play the remaining rounds of the NCAA Tournament at the USTA National Campus (May 16-19) in Orlando, Fla.
NCAA NOTES
The Women of Troy hold a 72-33 all-time record in the tournament. USC has won six national championships in all, including NCAA titles in 1983 and 1985 after the NCAA began its women's tennis championships in 1982. USC has won five National Singles Championships (1976 - Barbara Hallquist [USTA], 1977 - Barbara Hallquist [USTA], 1978 - Stacy Margolin [USTA], 1981 - Anna Maria Fernandez [AIAW], 1983 - Beth Herr [NCAA]) and two National Doubles Championships (1980 - Trey Lewis/Anne White [AIAW], 2013 - Kaitlyn Christian/Sabrina Santamaria [NCAA]).
ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS UPDATES
The Women of Troy enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 13 ranked team in the country as well as holding the No. 13 seed. USC boasts two Trojans in the national singles rankings with freshman Salma Ewing locking down the No. 51 spot and junior Angela Kulikov claiming the No. 83 rank. In doubles, the Trojan tandem of Kulikov/Valdes are the No. 1 ranked pair in the nation.
SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA
The No. 4 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks hold a 23-3 overall record with one of those losses coming from the Women of Troy. The Gamecocks are 10-1 at home and currently riding a 12-match winning streak. This season, South Carolina won the SEC Championship for the first time in program history. To open the NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks defeated North Florida 4-0 in the First Round and beat No. 21 Virginia 4-1 in the Second Round. Coached by 2019 SEC Coach of the Year Kevin Epley, the Gamecocks have three singles players nationally ranked as well as two doubles pairs. No. 4 ranked Ingrid Gamarra Martin is South Carolina' highest ranked singles player. She was also named the SEC Player of the Year. In addition, South Carolina's All-SEC First Teamers Paige Cline and Mia Horvit are also nationally ranked with Cline holding the No. 17 rank and Horvit at No. 81. In doubles, Mia Horvit/Ingrid Gamarra Martin are the No. 3 ranked pair in the nation while Rachel Rohranacher/Megan Davies are the No. 39 ranked duo. USC is 3-0 all-time against South Carolina in their series dating back to 1982.
INDIVIDUAL ACTION
In the individual action, the Women of Troy will be represented in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournaments (May 20-25) in Orlando, Fla. with one doubles pair and one singles player. The No.1 ranked duo of junior Angela Kulikov and senior Rianna Valdes will make their NCAA doubles debut as the No. 1 seed in the tournament. On the singles side, No 51 ranked freshman Salma Ewing will also make her first career NCAA Tournament appearance.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
The No. 1 ranked duo of Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes have been on the rise throughout this season. After finishing the fall ranked No. 42, the duo jumped to No. 18, only to become unranked in the following poll. After their No. 20 ranking on March 20, they continued to steadily rise until their May 1 ranking of No. 1 was officially announced. Kulikov/Valdes have a record of 25-6 on the season and have tallied wins over 12 nationally ranked teams this season, including five pairs in the Top 15.
PAC-12 HONORS
Two Trojans from the USC women's tennis team have earned athletic honors from the Pac-12 Conference. Freshman Salma Ewing has been named to the All-Pac-12 Second Team and junior Angela Kulikov earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention.
BY THE NUMBERS
In her second season as the USC women's tennis head coach, Alison Swain has brought the Trojans back into national recognition and prepared them for a championship run to bring home the team's third NCAA team title. Six Trojans have earned double-digit wins in singles. Freshman Danielle Willson, who earned a scholarship earlier this season, leads the group with 27 singles wins. Willson is followed by freshman No. 51 Salma Ewing who is closing in on the 20-win club as she enters NCAA play with 19 singles wins. Junior No. 83 Angela Kulikov has collected 18 wings, and sophomore Ana Neffa has 16 wins, while junior Becca Weissmann tallies 12 wins and junior Constance Branstine holds 10.
CLINCHERS
Eight different Trojans have clinched matches for USC this season. Freshmen Danielle Willson leads the team with four and Salma Ewing and Angela Kulikov are right behind her with three. Constance Branstine, Sydney Van Alphen, Becca Weissmann, Ana Neffa and Rianna Valdes each have recorded two clinches.
NCAA OPENING ROUNDS
The Trojans opened the NCAA Tournament with a 4-0 victory over Illinois State in the First Round. USC claimed the doubles point easily with two wins and then Rianna Valdes, Ana Neffa and Angela Kulikov all claimed singles victories to close out the match. The following day, the Women of Troy took on UNLV. USC again claimed the doubles point, and Danielle Willson, Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes each took care of business to make it a 4-0 sweep of the Rebels.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Trojans had a solid run in the 2019 Pac-12 Team Championships. The Women of Troy entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed and defeated No. 5 seed California 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the tournament. In the semifinal match, USC fell 4-0 to No. 1 seed Stanford to end their pursuit of the Pac-12 title.
TROJANS DOWN UNDER
Kicking off the 2019 season was a trip overseas to Australia to compete in exhibition and regular-season matches during the 2019 Australian Open. These scheduled matches were the inaugural contests to take place on location during one of the four professional Grand Slam events.
Both the USC men's and women's teams made the international trip to participate in the collegiate matches.
Before the competition, both programs were able to explore the cities of Cairns and Melbourne and visiting interesting places like the Great Barrier Reef and a crocodile and wildlife park. At the wildlife park, the teams were able to watch crocodiles being fed, play with kangaroos and hold koala bears. In addition, they were able to watch some of the greatest tennis in the world at the Australian Open.
Junior co-captain Angela Kulikov blogged about her experience abroad for the USC Athletics website.
WATCH THE TROJANS
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