Sumter, SC – The Erskine Women’s Tennis Team performed well in the ITA Southeast Regional Tennis Tournament held at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, South Carolina.

Senior Abby O'Reilly (Acworth, GA, Harrison High School) and freshmenLauren Schulte won their opening round matches while the other five Erskine players lost in their first match moving into the consolation bracket.  Playing in the “A” flight, O’Reilly won her first two matches, topping Renata Paiva of Columbus State in the first round and Shauna Williams of USC-Aiken in the next round, both in straight sets.  O’Reilly lost in the next round to the #8 seed, Carolin Weikard of Columbus State.

Schulte, playing in the “B” flight, played two exciting matches.  After dropping her first set against Marisa Esformes of Converse College, the freshman rallied to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-4.  In the next round, Schulte lost two very close sets 7-6, 7-5 to Monica Espitia of UNC-Pembroke.  Schulte withdrew from her next match due to injury.

In the “A” flight consolation bracket, junior Corin Hallman (Mt. Pleasant, SC, Wando High School)and freshman Miranda Guthrie advanced to the semi-final round.  Hallman needed three sets to get past Laura Chapman while Guthrie and fellow freshman Sarah McDonald both won in straight sets.

In the next round, Hallman defeated McDonald to advance to the quarterfinal round where she rallied to beat Rachel Whiteside after losing the first set.  Guthrie easily eliminated Ali Evers of Wingate 6-1, 6-2 then beat Natalia Escobar of North Georgia 6-2, 6-4.  Unfortunately, both Guthrie and Hallman had to withdraw due to an unforseen situation.

This concludes Erskine’s fall season and the team will now focus on preparing for their regular season.  The Fleet open their season at home on February 7^th against Francis Marion University.