CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – South Carolina women’s tennis’ success at the ITA Carolina Regional Championships continued with a pair of Gamecocks advancing to the singles round of 16 and one doubles team reaching the same step in that bracket.
In round of 32 doubles, Misa Malkin and Olympe Lancelot, who are among the tournament’s 9-16 seeds, fought out a tough 8-5 victory over Charleston Southern’s Marina Skegro and Kassandrao DiStaulo. The Gamecock tandem will face seventh-seeded Elizabeth Coleman and Irina Balus of Duke for a spot in the quarterfinals.
In the opening round of main draw singles, four of five Gamecocks advanced, led by dominant victories from top-seeded Sarah Hamner and Lancelot. Junior Kaitlyn Carnicella topped UNC Charlotte’s Prisca Abbas 6-3 in the first set then delivered on clutch points late in a second-set tiebreak to take the 7-6 (7) victory. Freshman Jana Stojanova won her first-set tiebreak to establish momentum and cruise in the second set of her 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory, her third win of the tournament after moving through qualifying rounds on Thursday.
No. 10 Hamner turned in another powerful win in the second round, moving past Gabia Paskauskas of NC State 6-3, 6-3, as she looks to repeat her 2022 title at the event. She will face 9-16 seed Irina Balus of Duke in the round of 16 Saturday.
Carnicella, who is among the tournament’s 9-16 seeds, dropped her opening set to North Carolina’s Susanna Maltby 6-3, but leveled the match with a 6-4 second-set win. The junior transfer kept the pressure on early in the third set and cruised to a 6-2 win that moved her into the round of 16 of a regional championship for the third-straight season. Carnicella will face Clemson’s Amelie Smejkalova for a spot in the quarterfinals, which would match her best career finish at a regional.
Complete draws, schedules and results for the ITA All-American Championships will be posted on the ITA Carolina Regionals Tournament Page. Live video and live scores are also available.
Under the new format for NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, players and doubles teams in the ITA Regional Championships can qualify right into the NCAA Championships bracket. The two singles finalists in each region will punch their ticket directly into the NCAA Singles Championships, and the doubles champion from each region will join them in the NCAA Doubles Championships.
Continue to check GamecocksOnline.com and the team’s social media accounts…