Gamecocks Claim Top-20 Win Over Alabama – University of South Carolina Athletics

Columbia, S.C. – ­No. 19 South Carolina women’s tennis took down No. 17 Alabama 4-3 at the Carolina Indoor Tennis Center on Friday. The Crimson Tide claimed the doubles point in a pair of tiebreaks but the Gamecocks had the advantage in singles, winning four of the six matches to secure the victory.

In doubles, South Carolina’s No. 2 pair of Shahar Biran and Elise Mills claimed the first doubles victory of the day in a comeback win. The duo was broken on their first service game to trail 0-2 early, but managed to break back to tie at 4-4 and break again to win it 6-4.

At the Nos. 1 and 3 positions, both matches needed tiebreaks for their decisions that Alabama claimed 8-6 at No. 3 and 10-8 at No. 1 to capture the doubles point.

In singles play, No. 8 Ayana Akli was first to put a point on the board to tie things up at 1-1. The graduate put up a commanding win over No. 32 Loudmilla Bencheikh 6-3, 6-0 to claim her 20^th singles win of the season.

On the next court, No. 10 Sarah Hamner also claimed a straight set ranked win – hers over No. 83 Petra Sedlackova. Hamner took the first set 6-4 and looked just as strong in the second set, winning it 6-3 for her third straight singles victory. Hamner is now a team leading 23-6 in singles play with 14 ranked wins.

The remaining four matches all finished within minutes of each other with Mills falling to No. 116 Ola Pitak on Court 4, Olympe Lancelot winning her match on Court 6, and Misa Malkin falling on Court 5 to even the match at 3-3.

Just seconds after the Crimson Tide tied things up, No. 125 Biran clinched the victory for the Gamecocks, winning her match 7-6(4), 6-3 to improve the Gamecocks to 2-3 in SEC play and hand Alabama their first SEC loss of the season.

The women’s tennis team will wrap its four-match SEC homestand on Sunday with a meeting against No. 13 Auburn. The match will take place at the Carolina Tennis Center at noon.

For all the latest South Carolina women’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockWTennis).

(19) South Carolina 4, (17) Alabama 3

Doubles (order of finish: 2, 3, 1)

1. #20 Loudmilla Bencheikh/Anne Marie Hiser (BAMA) def. #41 Ayana Akli/Sarah Hamner (SC) 7-6 (10-8)
2. Shahar Biran/Elise Mills (SC) def. Petra Sedlackova/Anna Parkhomenko (BAMA) 6-4
3. Ola Pitak/Klara Milicevic (BAMA) def. Olympe Lancelot/Misa Malkin (SC) 7-6 (8-6)

Singles (order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 6, 5, 3)

1. #8 Ayana Akli (SC) def. #32 Loudmilla…