COLUMBIA, S.C. — Gamecocks junior Jana Stojanova punched her first ticket to the NCAA Individual Championships on Tuesday, beating North Carolina’s Avery Nguyen 6-2, 6-2 in the singles semifinals of the ITA Carolina Regionals.
The straight-set win sends Stojanova into the regional singles final and locks up her place in the national individual field. She reached the final four without dropping a set, opening with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Clemson’s Sara Suchankova, then getting past Wake Forest’s Catherine Rennard 6-4, 6-3 and North Carolina’s Theadora Rabman 7-5, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.
Teammate Kaitlyn Carnicella, ranked No. 23, also made the semifinals but fell to NC State’s Lavinia Tanasie 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 after winning the second set to force a third. Carnicella had beaten Duke’s Claire An in three sets and Wake Forest’s Claire Hill 6-2, 6-0 to get there.
In doubles, the No. 54 pairing of Carnicella and Bella Bergqvist Larsson won three matches, including an 8-7 tiebreak over Manning and Nguyen, before falling to North Carolina’s Evans and Hamilton in the semifinals in a match decided 12-10 in a match tiebreak.
South Carolina swept all five of its opening singles matches, and Bergqvist Larsson, Jane Dunyon and Pietra Rivoli each made the round of 16 before their runs ended.
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