Nov. 5, 2005

Peachtree City, Ga. – Last season, marked the first time for USC Head Coach Arlo Elkins to have a player win a flight at the SEC Fall Coaches Classic. Tomorrow, Elkins and his Gamecocks are guaranteed to have at least one Gamecock win a championship and possibly have two flight championships.

South Carolina freshman Gira Schofield and Natasa Vuckovic both won their quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Saturday to advance to the A Draw Championship on Sunday. The two true freshmen will face off against each other to have an all Gamecock championship match.

Schofield advanced on the day defeating fourth-seeded Nika Koukhartchouk of Mississippi 6-0,6-1 in the quarterfinal. In the semi-final, Schofield dropped the first set to Whitney Benik of Florida 6-3 before rallying back taking the final two stanzas 6-3,7-5.

Vuckovic knocked off three-seed Nina Suvak of Florida in three sets, 3-6,6-4,6-2 before taking a three set win over the top-seeded Taka Bertrand of Vanderbilt. Vuckovic dropped the first set 6-4 before taking a 6-2,6-0 victory in the final two sets.

Red-shirt Sophomore Grace Blakely will be playing for the Flight C Championship as she knocked off two competitors in straight sets on Saturday.

“The two freshman are really good and they have been progressively getting better as the fall goes on,” said USC Head Coach Arlo Elkins. ” It is tough to play in the SEC and to have a championship like this where you have two players from the same team get to the final in the same draw is very impressive. The girls who are here have been playing very well and I hope that we can keep it up and carry this momentum into the spring.”

The Gamecocks will conclude their fall schedule tomorrow at the SEC Fall Coaches Classic in Peachtree City, Ga.