Athens, Ga. – No. 19 South Carolina women’s tennis advanced to the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament after defeating No. 30 Alabama 4-3 on Thursday morning. The Gamecock dropped the doubles point but completed the comeback in singles.
In doubles, the Crimson Tide claimed the point thanks to a pair of wins from the top of the lineup. At the No. 1 position, No. 21 Loudmilla Bencheikh and Anne Marie Hiser defeated No. 22 Sarah Hamner and Ayana Akli 6-3 before the Tide clinched the point from Court 2 where Petra Sedlackova and Anna Parkhomenko defeated Shahar Biran and Elise Mills 6-4.
In singles play, junior Misa Malkin was first to put a point on the board. After giving up a break on her first service game to fall 0-2, Malkin was able to break back to even things up at 2-2. Her and her opponent Klara Milicevic both traded service games to the end, forcing the set to a tiebreaker.
In the breaker, Malkin took an early 3-1 lead and looked to close the set out after being up 6-3, but Milicevic rallied to tie things up at 6-6 and again at 7-7. From there, the Gamecock was able to claim a point off of Alabama’s serve and win the set on her own serve 7-6(7).
In the second set, Malkin carried her positive momentum through, using it to shut Milicevic out 6-0 to win her match and tie things up at 1-1.
South Carolina was then able to take its first lead of the day with Mills winning her match on Court 4. Mills perfectly timed a late break to take the first set 6-4 and repeated her success in the second set to win it 7-5 for the match.
The Crimson Tide never let the Gamecocks get too far ahead though with Parkhomakeno defeating Olympe Lancelot on Court 5 to tie things up again at 2-2.
South Carolina again took the lead thanks to Hamner who was playing at the No. 1 position for the first time this season. No. 95 Sedlackova claimed the first set off Hamner 6-1 but the Gamecock came out on the right set of a tight second set 7-5 to even things up. The decisive third set was all Hamner with the junior shutting her opponent out 6-0 to claim the match.
The Tide rallied one last time to tie at 3-3 with Ola Pitak winning the match on Court 3 over Biran, leaving the match decision in the hands of No. 9 Akli who split sets with No. 57 Bencheikh. The Gamecock took the first 6-4 and Bencheikh took the second set 6-3.
In the final set to decide the match, Akli was broken early and fell 1-3 but never gave in, going on a run to claim the next five games, to win…