Sumter, SC – Erskine had a tremendous showing in the Conference Carolinas Fall Women’s Tennis Tournament finishing 2^nd and 3^rd in the top “A” flight and third in the “B” flight held at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, South Carolina. 

With players grouped into three flights, Head Coach Calhoun Parr elected to place six of players into the top “A” flight and the seventh player in the “B” flight.  Junior Corin Hallman (Mt. Pleasant, SC, Wando High School), winner of the last two “A” flight conference fall championships, received the #1 seed while sophomore Mika Goyette (Brossard, Quebec, Ecole Secondaire De Mortagne) was the #4 seed in the “A” flight.

The Flying Fleet won five of their six opening matches in the “A” flight with only senior Abby O'Reilly (Acworth, GA, Harrison High School) losing her opening match.  However, O’Reilly rebounded to win her next four matches, including an upset victory over teammate Mika Goyette, to win the “A” flight consolation bracket.

With a first round bye, Hallman quickly advanced to the semi-finals with two straight set victories.  Meanwhile, freshman teammate Miranda Guthrie breezed through her half of the bracket with three straight set victories to face Hallman.  In another upset, the freshman prevailed over the two-time defending champion to advance to the championship against the #2 seed Christina Rustscheff of Queens University.  Rustscheff defeated Guthrie 6-4, 6-4 to win the “A” flight championship.

On the other side of the bracket, Goyette, Victoria Stephens (Cumming, GA, South Forsyth High School) and Sarah McDonald all won their first match only to lose in the next round to fall into the consolation bracket.  Unfortunately, McDonald was forced to retire due to injury in her consolation match while Stephens and O’Reilly were paired against each other with O’Reilly advancing.  Goyette won her next two matches to create yet another teammate versus teammate match up with O’Reilly.  O’Reilly again prevailed, winning the match 6-1, 7-5.  O’Reilly won the consolation bracket by beating Mount Olive College’s Francisco Ceppi 6-1, 6-2.

In the “B” flight, freshman Lauren Schulte highlighted the depth of the Fleet squad by winning the consolation bracket for 3^rd place.  Schulte demonstrated some resolve bouncing back to win her first collegiate match after being hammered in her first set 6-1.  She won the final two sets 6-4 and 7-6 to advance.  Schulte lost to Lees-McRae’s Samantha Wohlers, the #3 seed, in the next round to drop into the consolation bracket.  Schulte won her next four matches, including a thrilling 7-6, 7-6 match in the finals, to win the bracket.

In doubles play, it was the young freshmen duo of McDonald and Guthrie advancing to the finals, where they lost a tight match 8-6 to Pfeiffer’s Taylor Lindsay and Valeria Mendoza.   Hallman and Goyette received the #2 seed and advanced to the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by McDonald and Guthrie.  O’Reilly and Stephens won their first match but lost to the #3 seed to end their run.

The Flying Fleet will return this weekend to the Palmetto Tennis Center to compete in the ITA Southeast Regional Fall Tournament.

Complete Results