Women's tennis team prepares for Georgia State

The 13th-ranked South Carolina womens tennis team handed 48th-ranked Georgia Tech its first loss of the season last Sunday as the Gamecocks downed the Yellow Jackets, 6-2, at the Indoor Tennis Center on the USC campus.

South Carolina (5-0) swept all three doubles matches and won four the six singles contests from the Yellow Jackets (2-1). Junior Leigh Eichelberger's win at No. 3 singles clinched the win for the Gamecocks. Eichelberger downed Tech's Mysti Morris, 6-4, 6-1.

Tech freshmen Jaime Wong and Charlotte Pernet won for the Jackets in singles play. Wong downed Tamara Sutton, the nation's 99th-ranked collegiate singles player, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, at the No. 4 position, and Pernet topped Kathy Boyanovich, 6-2, 2-6, and 10-5 in a super tiebreaker.

Now the Jackets look to redeem themselves against Georgia State this afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Bill Moore Tennis Center. Despite the loss to the Gamecocks, head coach Bryan Shelton is optimistic about this afternoon's matchup.

"Georgia State has had a lot of injuries," he commented. "They only have four or five players healthy. I'm looking for us not to take them lightly even though they have been pretty banged up. It's important for us to use our next few matches to get some confidence in both singles and doubles and to build some momentum for the rest of the season."

Shelton has also tinkered with his doubles lineup in the recent parts of the season. He moved Bobbi Guthrie up from the No. 3 spot to join Sabrina Pardo in the No. 1 spot.

"If they continue to play the way they did against South Carolina, they can compte against any No. 1 team," said Shelton.

Shelton also added that he hoped that the shuffling, along with the momentum that he is hoping for from some wins, will build a team that's solid in time for the ACC matches.