Cary, N.C.–The Sweet Briar Tennis team continued play on Saturday at Cary Tennis Center in Cary, N.C.
First-year players Ellen Reid (Germantown, N.C.) and Alex Williams (Buena Vista, Va.) each played hard-fought matches in their main draw matches. Reid played her quarterfinal match against Cyndi Mandese from Peace College, winning with solid groundstrokes in two sets, 6-0, 6-1. Play continued into the semifinals for Reid against Meredith College's Allison Smith. Reid was again victorious in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. On Sunday, Reid will play Meredith College player Molly Parks for the Flight "C" championship.
Teammate Alex Williams played with great heart and energy, taking five games from power-player Molly Parks. Despite her effort Williams lost in this semifinal round match 6-1, 6-4.
Flight "A" Consolation had one semifinal match between Ebie Baker ('11/Farmville, Va.) against Alex Kerin from Peace College. Kerin won to advance to the finals with set scores of 6-0, 6-2. First year player Krista Maldonado (Ennis, Texas) won over Peace College player Kristen Starnes. Maldonado won the first set 6-2, lost the second 1-6, and came back strong in the third for a decisive 6-0 victory. Maldonado will face Methodist College player Kaitlin Flaherty in the semifinal match on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. The finals will be played at noon.
Flight "B" Consolation play matched Jessica Draper ('10/Farmville, Va.) against Peace College Lauren Allen. Draper rallied consistently to win in three sets, winning the first 6-4, dropped the second 5-7, and won handily in the third set 6-2 to advance to play against teammate Caroline Blew ('12/Weston, Mass.). Draper and Blew played to win, however Draper took this match for Sweet Briar 6-3, 6-3 and advances to the finals against Monica Medina from North Carolina Central University at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday.
Medina advanced by beating Sweet Briar player Leslie Polaski ('10/Amherst, Va.) 6-1, 6-0.
Flight "C" Consolation matches put senior Rachel Sullivan (McLean, Va.) against Methodist College's Brittany Britt. Sullivan lost in straight sets 6-0, 6-2.
Doubles "A" Consolation round matched Maldonado-Polaski against hard-hitting Rogers-Velasquez from NCCU. Although there were many exciting exchanges, the Vixen duo lost 3-8.
Flight "B" Doubles main draw play matched Blew-Draper from Sweet Briar against Methodist team Ford-Tinkham. Methodist held strong to win 8-3. The team of Baker-Nance were against Meredith team Parks-Flanagan and fell 2-8.
Baker-Nance won handily in their consolation quarterfinal round against Mandese-McDonald from Peace College with a pro-set score of 8-0. Baker-Nance will play McRae-Spain from NCCU in the smifinal round on Sunday at noon. Finals are scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
