South Carolina 6, College of Charleston 1
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The College of Charleston women's tennis team dropped a 6-1 decision on the road to No. 26-ranked South Carolina on Friday night at the USC Field House.
It marked the Cougars' fourth nationally-ranked opponent in six matches played to start off a tough spring slate which has included the likes of No. 14 Clemson, No. 3 Duke and No. 67 Winthrop.
They moved to 3-3 on the season, while the Gamecocks improved to 6-1. The dual match was moved indoors, due to inclement weather.
CofC's lone point of the match came courtesy of senior Katie Lee, who returned to the lineup after recovering from a back injury during the fall. Lee defeated USC's Dina Guzairova in a third-set super tiebreaker, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0 (5), at No. 6 singles.
"It was nice to have Katie (Lee) back in the lineup," CofC Director of Tennis Angelo Anastopoulo said. "She has been working hard to get back from a back injury she sustained in the middle part of the fall. She is not quite at 100 percent yet, but she did a terrific job. She really showed her senior leadership today by coming through in a close match."
Aside from Lee, reigning Southern Conference Player of the Week Samantha Maddox was the only other CofC player to win a set against the Gamecocks in singles at the No. 4 line. Maddox won the first set, 6-4, while USC's Katerina Popova claimed the second set after tying it up at 5-all and gaining a service break, to force the third-set super tiebreaker with the match already decided.
"We had a chance and it was a close match," Anastopoulo said. "We have to get better in close situations against these top-ranked teams. It was a tough road trip for us with the weather and the team had to adapt to a shorter warm-up and learning to be flexible. Overall, I was proud of our team and how they dealt with the adversity today."
The Cougars will return home for workouts this week prior to spring break and their next road stop at Jacksonville State on Saturday, March 3 at 10 a.m. (ET) in Jacksonville, Fla.
Richmond 4, Davidson 2
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Playing the third of five straight home matches, Davidson's Brites Moniz-Soares pushed her singles win streak to three in a row, but she was the lone Wildcat to pick up a win as Richmond took a 4-2 decision on Friday afternoon in Knobloch Tennis Center in women's tennis.
Davidson (3-6) had a 1-0 lead going into singles action, but fell in four of the five matches that were completed to give the Spiders (4-1) their fourth win of the season.
Moniz-Soares and Katharine Dicconson scored their fifth win together as a pair with a 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles. Catherine Wood and Frizzi Bschorer sealed up the team point with an easy 8-1 triumph at No. 3.
In singles action, Moniz-Soares improved to 6-3 after she netted a 7-5, 6-4 win over Helen Cunningham at No. 2. The sophomore's record ran to 5-1 when playing at that position.
Richmond captured the rest of the spots with straight-set wins at No. 1, 3, 4 and 5 to earn the match win.
Davidson takes some time off before entering Southern Conference play, March 11, when it hosts Elon at 1 p.m.