WACO, TX. – No. 10 Sarah Hamner and Kaitlyn Carnicella will represent the Garnet & Black in singles action at the NCAA Individual Championship hosted by Baylor University. The event starts on Tuesday, Nov. 19 and will run through Nov. 24 when the national champion will be crowned. Matches will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats can be viewed through sidearm.
Hamner and Carnicella qualified for NCAAs after their performances at the ITA East Sectional Championship at University of North Carolina two weeks ago. Hamner swept her singles matches, winning the tournament after defeating No. 26 Carson Tanguilig of UNC 6-1, 6-4 in the finals. Carnicella advanced to the quarterfinals, defeating her opponent from the University of Maryland in three sets to automatically earn a spot in the tournament.
The singles draw features top 64 players in the country, 19 of which come from the SEC. Hamner, seeded amongst the top nine through 16 players in this tournament, will face No. 73 Eleana Yu of Duke at 12:00 p.m. (EST) tomorrow. Yu secured her bid to NCAAs at ITA Regionals where she collected five singles wins to advance to quarterfinals. Kaitlyn Carnicella is set to play against No. 80 Lan Mi of California, who secured her spot to the tournament at ITA Sectionals, at 11:30 a.m. (EST).
This tournament marks Hamner’s fourth consecutive trip to the championship. Last season the senior competed in singles and doubles, advancing to the round of 32 in both at the tournament in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Carnicella will be making her first NCAA Individual Championship appearance.
Hamner leads the Gamecocks with an 8-3 overall singles record going 3-2 against ranked opponents while Carnicella is 10-4 this season, earning an even three wins and three losses against ranked players.
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