Women’s Tennis Central: No. 35 South Carolina/No. 27 Florida

Friday, March 5

Knoxville, Tenn.

2 p.m. ET / NO GENERAL ADMISSION

University of Tennessee

South Carolina

Photo by: Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics

Women’s Tennis Central: No. 35 South Carolina/No. 27 Florida

March 04, 2021 | Women's Tennis

Live Stream Live Stats

By: Ricky Martinez

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 21-ranked Tennessee women's tennis team welcomes its first SEC opponents to Barksdale Stadium this weekend after back-to-back weeks on the road.

The Lady Vols (7-4, 1-2 SEC) open with No. 35-ranked South Carolina on Friday and follow with No. 27-ranked Florida on Sunday. First serve against South Carolina is set for 2 p.m. ET and noon ET for Florida.

Last year, the Gamecocks (4-7, 1-3 SEC) and Gators (5-4, 1-3 SEC) were slated for duals in Barksdale Stadium but the matches were canceled due to the COVID-19 global health crisis.

All home matches played inside the Goodfriend Tennis Center will be conducted without fans per SEC COVID-19 protocols. Spectators at Barksdale Stadium will be limited to family and friends of the Tennessee women's tennis and visiting program, general admission is not permitted. Should the match be moved indoors the day of the match, those on the pass list will be permitted.

Coverage: Fans can follow @Vol_WTennis on Twitter for live updates. A complete recap of the matches will be posted to UTSports.com following each dual.

Last Time Out: The Lady Vols dropped a match to Mississippi State and rallied back for a win over Ole Miss.

Doubles Impact: The Lady Vols have claimed the critical doubles point eight times over the course of the season, holding a 6-2 record when getting off to a fast start.

Instant Impact: In their first season on Rocky Top, junior Daria Kuczer and freshman Esther Adeshina have been critical to the Lady Vols 7-4 start to the season.

As a tandem, Kuczer and Adeshina have posted a 9-5 record this season. In dual-match play, the pair hold a 6-1 record on court two and 2-2 mark one. This weekend, they are expected to appear on court one.

Individually, Kuczer has been electric in solo play. The transfer by way of Peperdine has posted an impressive 8-1 singles dual-match record and is 14-6 overall in her debut season for the Orange and White.

Nearing 80: No. 85-ranked senior Johanna Silva, who is taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA, is approaching her 80th-career win. The Hamburg, Germany native holds a career solo record of 79-44 and is expected to appear on court six this weekend.

A solo win this weekend would make her the 24th Lady Vol with at least 80 singles wins and the first since LVFL Kata Szekely did so to close her career in 2013.

Projected Lineups

Singles	No. 19 Tennessee	No. 35 South Carolina	No. 27 Florida
1	Eleonora Molinaro	No. 34 Mia Horvit	No. 32 McCartney Kessler
2	No. 118 Carly Briggs	No. 30 Megan Davies	Marlee Zein
3	No. 52 Rebeka Mertena	Silvia Chinellato	Ida Jarlskog
4	Tenika McGiffin	No. 93 Emma Shelton	Sara Dahlstrom
5	Daria Kuczer	Allie Gretkowski	No. 65 Layne Sleeth
6	No. 85 Johanna Silva	Ana Cruz	Sydney Berlin
7	Callie Creath	Elise Mills	Amber McGuinnis
8	Esther Adeshina	Gabriela Martinez
9	Kylie Duckworth
Doubles
1	Esther Adeshina/Daria Kuczer	No. 29 Mia Horvit/Megan Davies	No. 26 McCartney Kessler/Marlee Zein
2	Tenika McGiffin/Carly Briggs	No. 20 Emma Shelton/Silvia Chinellato	Sara Dahlstrom/Ida Jarlskog
3	Eleonora Molinaro/Johanna Silva	Allie Gretkowski/Ana Cruz	Sydney Berlin/Layne Sleeth
4	Callie Creath, Rebeka Mertena, Kylie Duckworth	Gabriela Martinez, Elise Mills	Amber McGuinnis

FOLLOW THE LADY VOLS!
Fans can keep up with the latest Tennessee women's tennis news by following the program on its Facebook (Facebook.com/TennesseeWomensTennis), Twitter (@Vol_WTennis) and Instagram (Vol_WTennis) accounts.