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Gamecock Tennis and Women's Golf Women's golf team full of potential Women’s Golf Roundup The Gamecock You only have to look as far as the finish of the 2000 fall season to see the potential of the 2001 South Carolina women’s golf team. The ladies finished second out of 22 teams in the prestigious Lady Paladin Invitational and, in the process, set the USC record for low team tourna ment score. Not bad for a lineup dominated by underclass men. Head coach Kristi Coggins’ group is primed and ready for a run at the SEC Championship and a high finish in the NCAA Championships this season. Carolina made its return to the championships last season and brought back all but two of those players to this year’s squad. Combine that group with a talented trio of newcomers, and you can see how the finish at Furman wasn’t all that surprising. “Our newcomers should have an immediate im pact on this year’s team,” said Coggins, who is in her seventh season at Carolina and 16th overall as a collegiate head coach. “With the improvement from our returning players and the talent level of the newcomers, our goals for SEC titles and high national rankings have a great chance to be reached this season.” Leading the way among the returning players is sophomore Kristy McPherson. The Conway, S.C., native was a second team All-SEC selection last sea son and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. McPherson finished in the Top 20 in all three fall tournaments and leads USC with a 74.67 stroke av erage. She finished second at the Lady Paladin In vitational and ninth at the Docjge ACQSEC Shootout, and her 214 score at Furman is the second-lowest tournament score in USC history. Fellow classmate Kacy Thompson also is coming off a strong fall. Thompson, the older sis ter of freshman Kory and younger sister of USC men’s golf senior and All-American Kyle, had a 76.89 stroke average and two Top 20 finishes, in cluding 15th at the Lady Paladin. Kory, one of the three heralded newcomers, is right behind her old er sister with a 77.67 stroke average and finished the fall in fine fashion with a 21st-place showing at the Lady Paladin. Five of Kory’s six rounds in the fall counted toward the team score. Seniors Abby Derman and Stefanie Reynolds al so had solid falls, playing in every tournament. Reynolds, from Landenbeig, Pa., had a 79.00 stroke average with a low round of 74 at the Lady Paladin, while Derman finished with an 80.11 stroke aver age and a top finish of 17th at the ACQ5EC Shootout. The duo gives Coggins solid leadership on a young team. “Stefanie Reynolds and Abby Derman bring strong, consistent play and winning attitudes to the mix as leaders of this young team,” said Coggins. The two other newcomers rounded out Caroli na’s participating players in the fall. Marci Robin son, a freshman from Columbia and Spring Valley High School, played in two tournaments and had an 80.33 stroke average with a low round of 74 at the Lady Paladin. Reetta Laakkonen is a native of Tam pere, Finland and transfer from Lewis University, where she was the Division II Freshman and Play er of the Year in 1999. She played in one tourna ment in the fall and is expected to give USC solid depth. Sarah Kidd, a junior from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and sophomore Kristin Ruble didn’t play in the fall, but are key ingredients to this year’s success. Ruble is a talented player who is funda- • mentally sound, and Kidd is a long-ball striker, ac cording to Coggins, who “is on the veige of a break through in her game.” A main ingredient in last year’s success and the season-ending 16th ranking was the Lady Game cocks’ tough schedule. This year is no different, as Coggins has scheduled some of the region’s and na tion’s top tournaments for the spring. “I believe that you must play the best to be the best,” said Coggins. “I have never veered away from a strong schedule in my time at Carolina. The SEC is probably the toughest conference in the nation, and we have a number of opportunities to play against Top 10 teams and earn a Top 10 ranking ourselves.” The Lady Gamecocks had a strong fall and look forward to an even stronger spring, and based on the attitudes of Coggins and her players, that success is n’t far from becoming a reality. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom USC tennis teams undefeated thus far Women’s Tennis Women’s Tennis Roundup The Gamecock Hot off a 3-0 start, the South Carolina women’s tennis team enjoys a well-earned week off from match play this week. USC opened the spring campaign last Tuesday with a 6-1 win at Furman, finished off Middle Tennessee State 7-0 in the home opener on Thursday and made it a clean sweep with a 5 2 win over N.C. State on Saturday. The win over MTSU in the home opener was USC’s 10th straight of that variety, as the Gamecocks have not dropped a home open ing-match since the 1991 season. Carolina is 144 now in home openers under coach Arlo Elkins. Next up for the Lady Gamecocks is the College of Charleston, which USC has domi nated recently, leading 10-2 in the all-time se ries. South Carolina 6, Furman 1 The team opened the spring portion of the schedule Feb. 7 with a 6-1 defeat of Furman University in Greenville. The Lady Gamecocks, ranked 19th na tionally, won five of the six singles matches and won all three doubles matches to earn its first win of the 2001 season. In the singles events, Kathy Boyanovich, playing number two singles, defeated Mered ith Moore 6-3,4-6,6-1; Lynn-Yin Tan defeated Gene Holman 6-3,6-3; Tamara Sutton best ed Emelie Isaksson 6-2,6-2; Leigh Echelbeiger defeated Natalie The 6-1,64; and Catherine Brown defeated Krista Thomson 6-0,7 -5. The only singles loss suffered by Carolina was at the number one spot, where Jen Radman fell to Megan Dunigan, 5-7,6-2,6-1. In doubles action, the team of Eichel bergcr/Tan soundly defeated the team of Duni gan/Moore 8-3; while Radman/Boyanovich defeated Holman/The 8-5; and Sutton/Brown defeated Thomson/Cochran 8-3. South Carolina 7, Middle Tennessee State 0 For the 10th consecutive season, the South Carolina women’s tennis team won its home opener, beating Middle Tennessee State 7-0 Feb. 8 at the Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center. USC (2-0) swept the opening doubles matches, paced by a decisive 84 win by Leigh Eichelbetger and Lynn-Yin Tan at the No. 1 seed over Manon Kruse and Stacy Vemell. In singles action, USC took all six matches from the Lady Raiders (1-6). Caroli na’s Jennifer Radman beat Kruse 7-5,7-6(3) at No. 1 singles while Kathy Boyanovich won at No. 2, outlasting Inge Weirich 64,6-7(6), 7 5. In other singles action: Lynn-Yin Tan beat Tanja Bucheim 6-0,6-0; Tamara Sutton downed MichaelaGridling 6-4,6-4; Leigh Echelbeig er won 6-1,6-1 over Carien Venter, and Cather ine Brown beat Stacy Vamell 7-5,6-1. South Carolina 5, N.C. State 2 The 19th-ranked South Carolina women’s tennis team improved to 3-0 on the season with a 5-2 win over visiting N.C. State Feb. 10 at the Maxcy Gregg Tennis Center on the USC campus. The Gamecocks opened the match by sweeping all three doubles matches. Carolina is now a perfect 9-0 in doubles matches through their first three matches of the season. Dou bles winners for USC were: Echelberger/Tan (8-4 over Gildemeister/Leskovar), Rad man/Boyanovich (8-3 over Nicholls/Jassawalla) and Sutton/Brown (8-3 over Wbrsley/Bawono). In singles action, winners for Carolina were: Jennifer Radman (6-4,6-4 over Katrina Gilde meister), Kathy Boyanovich (6-3,6-2 over Jackie Leskovar), Lynn-Yin Tan (6-1,64 over Kristen Nicholls) and Leigh Echelberger (5 7,6-2,64 over Myma Bawono). USC has beaten the Wolfpack (1-1) nine straight times, a streak that dates back to the 1985 season. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom Men’s Tennis Men’s Tennis Roundup The Gamecock The Gamecock men’s tennis team took on Charleston South ern and Francis Marion last Friday at the USC Indoor Tennis Fa cility. The indoor home opener proved to be a successful day for the Gamecocks (3-0) as they swept all completed matches to defeat CSU 4-0 and FMU 3-0 in the shortened format dual match es. The shortened format cuts the doubles matches from three games to one and the singles matches from six games to four. The first team to reach three points wins the match. South Carolina received wins from David Nelson, Carl Vvfer mee, Nasir Sherazi and the doubles team of Rodrigo Pacheco/Rob Cassidy. Pacheco and Cassidy also won their match over FMU’s Lewellyn King and Richard Warrin, giving the Gamecocks their first point of the second match,. Dramatic wins from No. 44 Seth Rose at number one sin gles and Carl Wermee at number three singles helped to clinch the match at 3-0. South Carolina will be back in action Saturday at noon when they travel to Chapel Hill for a match against North Carolina. The Gamecocks began the season with a win last Sunday over the Wildcats from Davidson 5-2. Leading off at number one singles was sophomore Seth Rose. Rose won his match in straight sets over Davidson’s top player, Whit Hansen, 6-1,7-6. Other winners in singles for South Car olina included David Nelson, Carl Wermee, Nasir Sherazi and Rodrigo Pacheco. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom