CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The 40th-ranked Queens women's tennis team defeated Conference Carolinas rival No. 47 Erskine College, 5-2, Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCCA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament, hosted by Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia.
Getting started in doubles action, Queens’ All-Conference First teamer Elena Mileva (Sofia, Bulgaria, First Private English Language School) teamed with Kaitlyn Blakey (Keller, Texas, Keller) to defeat Nikki Miller and Hannah Fisher, 8-4, in the third flight to take a 1-0 lead. Erskine charged back in the first flight, teaming reigning conference Player of the Year Tessa Rheault with Britton Bignon to defeat Hewit Hawn (Naples, Fla., Community School of Naples) and Morgan Roberts (Fort Pierce, Fla., Treasure Coast), 9-7.
Rounding off doubles competition, the Royals’ Christina Engelberth (Stockholm, Sweden, Pendleton School IMG) and Erin Williams (Arden, N.C., T.C. Roberson) came back from a 7-8 deficit to defeat the Flying Fleet’s Victoria Stephens and conference Freshman of the Year Abby O'Reilly, 9-8, to take a 2-1 lead into singles action.
In singles action, the Royals split the first and second flights as Mileva topped Rheault, 7-5, 6-0 and Britton Bignon defeated Erin Williams 6-4, 6-1, respectively.
In the sixth flight, Blakey handed Fisher her second loss of the day, winning 7-6, 6-0 to give the Royals a 4-2 lead, needing one more match to cement to victory and advance.
With the fifth flight still running and the fourth flight moving into its third set, Poole overtook O'Reilly 6-4 in the third flight to give the Royals an insurmountable 5-2 lead, and a ticket to the second round.
In the second round, the Royals will face the tournament host, Armstrong Atlantic (27-0), at 2 p.m.