Columbia, S.C. – No. 14 South Carolina women’s tennis will begin the SEC season on the road this year with its first stops at Texas A&M and LSU. The Gamecocks will open the slate against the No. 21-ranked Aggies on Fri., March 1 at 6:00 p.m. ET and will then head to Louisiana to take on the No. 63 Tigers on Sun., March 3 at noon ET.
Live streaming against Texas A&M will be available here with live stats available here. Against LSU, live stats can be found here with live streaming here.
Gamecock Noatbles
- South Carolina is ranked No. 14 in the latest ITA Team Rankings, the team’s highest ranking since the beginning of the 2020 season.
- The Gamecocks are 8-1 heading into SEC play with their lone loss coming at the hands of then-No. 4 Georgia at a neutral site. The team has only played one true road game this season at Wake Forest where they came out on top 4-3 in a dramatic comeback victory.
- South Carolina is the only team in the country with two players ranked in the top-7 of the ITA singles rankings in No. 6 Sarah Hamner and No. 7 Ayana Akli. Graduate Shahar Biran also represents the team in the singles rankings at No. 119.
- Akli has handled duties at the top of the singles lineup for the team where she is 5-2. The graduate is 18-6 overall and was the national runner-up at the ITA Fall National Championships.
- Hamner enters the SEC season with a perfect 7-0 dual singles record and a team-leading 20-5 overall record. She is currently on an eight-match singles win streak and has 12 ranked wins under her belt this season.
- Biran has been a consistent No. 3 for the Gamecocks this season where she is 5-2 and has won four of her last five matches.
- Also with an impressive dual singles record is junior Misa Malkin who is 5-1 from No. 4 in the lineup. Malkin in 12-9 overall and has won all five of her dual singles matches in straight sets.
- In the ITA Doubles Rankings, Akli is ranked at No. 45 with Hamner and at No. 49 with Olympe Lancelot.
- Akli and Lancelot are 4-2 from the top of the doubles lineup and 7-2 overall. They have a ranked win over then-No. 15 Guillermina Grant and Mai Nirundorn of Georgia on their resume.
- Akli and Hamner are 1-1 from the No. 1 position this season and 4-5 overall. The All-American duo made it to the quarterfinals of the 2023 NCAA Doubles Tournament last season.
Scouting the Aggies
- Texas A&M is ranked No. 21 in the latest ITA Team Rankings but began the season ranked at No. 2 in the country. The team is 8-5 overall and…