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South Carolina
No. 14 Women’s Tennis closes regular season with 4-1 win over No. 21 South Carolina
04.13.2025 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns won their fifth-straight match and clinched the 8 seed and a first-round bye in the SEC Championship.
Austin, Texas – No. 14 Texas Women's Tennis closed the regular season with a 4-1 win over No. 21 South Carolina on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center. It was the Longhorns' fifth-straight victory and clinched the 8 seed and a first-round bye in the SEC Championship, which will be played April 16-20 in Auburn, Ala. They finish the regular season 15-9 overall and 9-6 in the SEC.
South Carolina took the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 with Texas having won at No. 3 in between. However, the Longhorns followed with four-straight singles victories from freshmen Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz at No. 6, No. 93 Ashton Bowers at No. 3, No. 82 Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo at No. 5, and No. 32 Carmen Herea at No. 2. After the match, Sabina Zeynalova and Vivian Ovrootsky were honored for Senior Day.
Kempenaers-Pocz was first off the singles court and evened the overall score, 1-1, with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Anna Claire Roof at No. 6. Kempenaers-Pocz began the match with a 3-0 run that included a deuce-point break in the second game. The next four games were then on serve, capped by Kempenaers-Pocz holding on a deuce point for 5-2, but that initiated an 8-0 run for her to sweep the rest of the match.
The next two matches finished within a few minutes of each other with Bowers doing so first with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Misa Malkin at No. 3. Bowers opened the match on a 5-0 run, including a deuce-point break for 3-0. Malkin would end up breaking Bowers' next two serves, but outside of that, it was all Bowers as she broke back to take the first set and then closed the second set with another 5-0 run. That included two deuce-point holds for 2-1 and in the final game.
A short time later, Anazagasty-Pursoo returned to the singles lineup and secured a 6-2, 6-4 win over Bella Larsson at No. 5. After Larsson held at deuce to start the match, Anazagasty-Pursoo set out on a 4-0 run. Larsson picked up one more game on a break, but Anazagasty-Pursoo broke back on a deuce point and served out the set. In the second, Larsson again began with a deuce-point hold, and Anazagasty-Pursoo again went on a run, this time 3-0 that she started with a deuce-point hold. The break in the next game would turn out to be the only one of the set, as despite two more deuce-point holds for Larsson, it stayed on serve the rest of the way to Anazagasty-Pursoo's win.
The clinch then came from Herea with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over No. 58 Kaitlyn Carnicella at No. 2. Herea broke and held to begin the match with a 2-0 lead, and when Carnicella got the break back for 3-3, it began a run of six-straight breaks until Herea held again for the 7-5 win. The breaks continued in the first three games of the second set until Herea held for a 3-1 lead. Carnicella then held on a deuce point, but Herea took it from there with a 3-0 run for the win that included consecutive deuce points in the last two games.
That left two matches unfinished with freshman No. 74 Eszter Meri one game away from a win for the second time in the last three team matches, as she was leading Olympe Lancelot, 6-3, 5-0, at No. 4 when play halted. Meri had been one point away from a win in her match against Mississippi State last Sunday. In this match, despite Lancelot's first two service games reaching deuce, the first five games stayed on serve until Meri broke for 4-2 and consolidated on a deuce point for 5-2. Lancelot picked up one more hold for 5-3, but Meri set out on a 6-0 run to take the set and post a 5-0 lead in the second. That included three-straight deuce-point wins from 2-0 to 4-0 in that set.
No. 56 Zeynalova was then in a position to force a third set in her match, trailing, 3-6, 5-4, to No. 13 Sarah Hamner at No. 1. The scoring of the first eight games of each set was the same pattern but in reverse for the players, as Hamner took a 2-0 lead in the first set that she expanded to 4-1 and maintained to 5-3 before serving it out on a deuce point. It was the same for Zeynalova in the second set until Hamner broke on a deuce point for 5-4, which is where the match stood when play stopped.
Earlier in doubles, South Carolina was first off the court as the No. 24 duo of Bowers and Anazagasty-Pursoo fell to No. 21 Hamner and Carnicella, 6-2, at No. 1. The Gamecocks picked up the only two breaks of the contest for a 3-1 lead and for the match, which had no games reach deuce.
Zeynalova and Herea then evened doubles with a 6-1 win over Malkin and Lauren Friedman at No. 3. The Longhorns jumped out to a 5-0 lead, and after the Gamecocks picked up one game on serve, Texas served out the match on the only deuce point.
That left it to No. 2, which featured five deuce points, all of which went to South Carolina, as Kempenaers-Pocz and freshman Salma Drugdova still only lost by a slim margin of 7-5 to Larsson and Lancelot. After the Longhorns held to begin the match, the Gamecocks won consecutive deuce points for a 2-1 lead. Texas broke back for 2-2, but South Carolina again broke at deuce and consolidated that for 4-2. The Longhorns held for 4-3, the Gamecocks did as well by securing their fourth deuce point for 5-3. Kempenaers-Pocz and Drugdova held in the next game and were finally able to get the break back for 5-5, but their following serve went to deuce, which South Carolina claimed for the break before serving out the match.
Texas will next begin SEC Championship play on Thursday, April 17, at 6 p.m. CT against the winner of 9 seed South Carolina and 16 seed Mississippi State.
#3 Texas 4, #21 South Carolina 1
Singles – Order of Finish (6,3,5,2)
1. #56 Sabina Zeynalova (TEX) vs. #13 Sarah Hamner (SC) 3-6, 5-4, unfinished
2. #32 Carmen Herea (TEX) def. #58 Kaitlyn Carnicella (SC) 7-5, 6-2
3. #93 Ashton Bowers (TEX) def. Misa Malkin (SC) 6-1, 6-1
4. #74 Eszter Meri (TEX) vs. Olympe Lancelot (SC) 6-3, 5-0, unfinished
5. #82 A Anazagasty-Pursoo (TEX) def. Bella Larsson (SC) 6-2, 6-4
6. Char Kempenaers-Pocz (TEX) def. Anna Claire Roof (SC) 6-2, 6-0
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,3,2)
1. #21 Sarah Hamner/Kaitlyn Carnicella (SC) def. #24 A Anazagasty-Pursoo/Ashton Bowers (TEX) 6-2
2. Bella Larsson/Olympe Lancelot (SC) def. Char Kempenaers-Pocz/Salma Drugdova (TEX) 7-5
3. Sabina Zeynalova/Carmen Herea (TEX) def. Misa Malkin/Lauren Friedman (SC) 6-1
Players Mentioned
