Stillwater, Okla. – South Carolina women’s tennis graduate Ayana Akli and junior Sarah Hamner advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Doubles Tournament on Tuesday evening after both falling in their respective singles matches in the morning.
The No. 28-ranked Gamecock pair upset No. 22 Eryn Cayetano and Emma Charney of Southern California for their ticket to the next round of the doubles tournament.
In the first set, the Gamecocks got off to a hot start, breaking the Trojans on their first service game to lead 3-0, but the West Coast pair broke back to tie things up at 3-3 and earned another break to take their first lead of the match 4-3. The Gamecocks rallied to break back immediately for 4-4 and refused to give in, claiming another break to take the first set 6-4.
In the second set, both pairs held serve through the first four games but Cayetano and Charney took the first break of the set to lead 3-2. It took a few games, but Akli and Hamner were able to break back for 4-4 and continued to hold serve to the end, forcing a tiebreak for the decision.
In the breaker, play was close with neither team ever able to lead by more than one point until the Gamecocks were finally able to claim a perfectly timed break point for the win 7-6(5).
In the Singles Tournament on Tuesday, both Akli and Hamner were bested in their respective matches. No. 19 Hamner fell to No. 17 Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State while No. 11 Akli fell to No. 51 Amelia Honer of UC Santa Barbara.
With their doubles victory, Akli and Hamner move on to the Round of 16 where they will face the winner of No. 4 seed Mary Stoiana and Mia Kupres of Texas A&M versus Miyuka Kimoto and Viktoryia Kanapatskaya of Syracuse. Match time is TBA
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Singles Round of 32
(17) Irina Cantos Siemers (Ohio State) def. (19) Sarah Hamner (SC) 6-2, 7-6(5)
(51) Amelia Honer (UCSB) def. (11) Ayana Akli (SC) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles Round of 32
(28) Ayana Akli/Sarah Hamner (SC) def. (22) Eryn Cayetano/Emma Charney (So. Cal.) 6-4, 7-6(5)