CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – After rounding out the regular season last weekend and claiming the third seed in the 2023 Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Women's Tennis Tournament, the Centre women's tennis team (13-6, 5-2 SAA) took on the sixth-seeded Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels on Friday for the tournament quarterfinals. The Colonels pushed a strong performance to advance to the conference semifinals for a seventh-straight season, taking down their Friday opponent on a 5-0 final score.
 
The Gold & White kicked off the event with a sweep in the doubles matches, snagging the first three team points available in the quarterfinal round. Freshman-duo Grace Williams and Carlie Mitchell had as good of a performance a team could have, sweeping their no. 2 opponent on a perfect 8-0 score. Centre featured identical scores for both the no. 1 and no. 3 series that took place on Friday, both resulting in 8-3 Colonel wins. The team that consisted of the no. 1 match that took place was senior duo Ella Rueff and Lainey Hill, the no. 3 slot hosting Maddy Trinh and Kayla Harger in their path to victory.
 
Trinh claimed Centre's fourth point in the series, the no. 4 singles student-athlete coming close to sweeping her Oglethorpe opponent in the 6-1, 6-0 win. One of Centre's three seniors in the lineup picked up the final team point to secure their spot to the conference semifinal, Hill putting up a strong 6-2, 6-3 final score.
 
The rest of the matches were left unfinished due to the two programs playing until decision, the Gold & White on pace to sweep Oglethorpe before the event concluded early. Rueff manned the no. 1 spot of the order, winning the first set before the second wrapped early, 6-4, 4-4. The no. 5 slot of the lineup looked to toss another dominant win on her resume, in the lead 6-1, 2-1. Mitchell held the final series to have started but concluded early, coming back on a great second set to force a third 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 in the no. 3 match. Senior Mamie Sevier was scheduled to compete as the Colonels' no. 6 student-athlete, but didn't start the match before the decision was made.
 
Centre will move onto the conference semifinal round on Saturday, April 29, taking on the winner of the seventh-seeded Birmingham Southern vs. second-seeded Rhodes. Although their opponent is not yet determined, the semifinal match that Centre will compete in will kick off at 9 a.m. ET. You can find all the up-to-date information on all things Centre Colonels over at centrecolonel.com.