No. 16 South Carolina Defeats Tennis At Home

COLUMBIA, Mo. — University of Missouri tennis fell 4-0 to No. 16 South Carolina on Friday, March 22 at the Country Club of Missouri. The match moves the Tigers’ record to 4-14 on the 2024 season. 

Mizzou opened the match with doubles play, battling closely with South Carolina, but could not pull away with the point. Seniors Romary Cardenas Rifka and Gabriela Martinez faced off in a back-and-forth match on the No. 2 court that resulted in a Gamecocks win, 6-4. In the No. 3 spot, graduate student Emelie Schwarte and sophomore Andrea Artimedi went head to head with the opposition’s No. 3 pairing, but the match went unfinished with the Tigers up, 5-4. 

The Tigers walked into singles play down 1-0 and could not hold on, falling to the Gamecocks on the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 5 courts. Senior Mae Canete competed against the No. 7 ranked singles player in the No. 1 spot and walked away with South Carolina taking the first set 6-3 and the match going unfinished tied at 4-4 in the second set. 

HEAD COACH BIANCA TURATI

“Playing these high-level matches against top teams allows us to realize what we need to work on. We have to do a better job with our serves, returns and how we begin the rallies. When the performance level is high, both quality and consistency early on in the rallies are crucial. South Carolina did better than us with that. They were able to dictate and play their offensive game more than us but I like how we are competing. We are moving in the right direction. We’ll be back practicing tomorrow to get ready for Florida on Sunday.”

UP NEXT

The Tigers stay home for another conference match for the weekend against No. 33 Florida on Sunday, March 24 at the Country Club of Missouri. The first serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT. 

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FULL RESULTS

Missouri 0, South Carolina 4

Doubles:

1. Ayana Alki/Sarah Hamner (USC) def. Mae Canete/Inah Canete (MIZ) 6-0

2. Shahar Biran/ Elise Mills (USC) def. Romary Cardenas Rifka/Gabriela Martinez (MIZ) 6-4

3. Emelie Schwarte/Andrea Artimedi (MIZ) vs. Olympe Lancelot/Anna Kantor (USC) 5-4, uf

Order of Finish: 1, 2

Singles:

1. Ayana Alki (USC) vs. Mae Canete (MIZ) 6-3, 4-4, uf

2. Sarah Hamner (USC) def. Inah Canete (MIZ) 6-3, 6-0

3. Shahar Biran (USC) def. Gabriela Martinez (MIZ) 6-0, 6-4

4. Elise Mills (USC) vs. Emelie Schwarte (MIZ) 6-4, 5-4, uf

5. Olympe Lancelot (USC) def. Romary Cardenas Rifka (MIZ) 6-2, 6-3

6. Andrea Artimedi (MIZ) vs. Anna Kantor (USC) uf

Order of Finish: 2, 3, 5