The 2019 USC Aiken women's tennis team put together one of the finest seasons in the program's history. The team earned national rankings and placed its second person ever on the PBC all-conference first team.
Despite narrowly missing out on the NCAA Tournament, head coach
Steve Dahm's team put together a season that will live in history.
The Pacers put together a school-record 11-match winning streak. In terms of where it ranks among every USC Aiken team since moving into Division II, the 11-match winning streak is among the 10 longest in school history.
Although
Elena Bompieri led the charge as a first-team all-league performer, it was a total team effort. The Pacers produced four student-athletes that won at least 11 doubles matches. Bompieri set the school record with 13 wins at No. 1 singles while
Edith Croda posted 12 victories.
Karina Blas and
Rebekka Heigermoser each notched 11 singles victories on the year while
Teresa Franco Dias accounted for eight wins at No. 2 singles.
Each doubles student-athlete registered at least 10 wins. The dyad of
Victoria Giannaccini and
Alice Neves tallied a team-high 14 wins, with the two pairing up for 13 wins at No. 2 doubles and the other coming at No. 1 doubles.
During the 11-match winning streak, the Pacers gave up just eight total points while posting shutout victories five times.Â
USC Aiken was ranked in the mid-30's throughout the entire season and registered its first-ever victory over Georgia College in a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind win. The team played well enough to earn the No. 4 overall seed in the PBC Tournament before narrowly missing out on the NCAA Tournament field.
The 14 wins by the team marked the seventh most in the program's history, but part of that was due to more matches being played in previous years. The six league wins tied the most in school lore while the .778 winning percentage was the best in school history (14-4 overall).
Just prior to the conference tournament, it was announced the program would not be around after the 2019 campaign. However, this year's team provided fans and alumni with numerous bright spots and a season of firsts. The 2019 team left a tremendous story that will be talked about for years to come. Â