Hilton Head High’s Emily Ruckno followed up her team’s Class 4A state championship by earning all-state honors with a third-place finish in the Class 5A/4A state singles tournament on Wednesday in Columbia.
Ruckno won three matches in straight sets when the tournament began Nov. 11, advancing to the semifinals, but the conclusion of the event was postponed due to rain. When play resumed Wednesday, Ruckno lost a 6-0, 6-4 decision to eventual champion Jesse Hollins of River Bluff before defeating Mauldin’s Jyoshikka Umasankar 8-2 in the third-place match.
The four games Ruckno took from Hollins were the most the River Bluff standout dropped in any of her five matches en route to the title, as she defeated Spring Valley’s Crawford Latham 6-2, 6-1 in the final.
Hilton Head High’s Sierra Seabra went 1-2 in the tournament, dropping her first match 6-4, 6-2 but bouncing back for an 8-3 win in the consolation bracket before being eliminated with a tough 8-6 loss. Bluffton’s Phelan O’Keefe dropped both of her matches.
In the Class 3A/2A/1A bracket, May River’s Margaret Zendzian went 1-2, falling to eventual fourth-place finisher Sarah Allen of Christ Church in the first round, then posting a dominant 8-0 win in the consolation bracket before falling 8-4 in her third match.