The cold weather forced a change in the schedule at the 2009 state girls tennis tournament on Thursday in Sioux Falls, but neither the weather or a recent bout with the flu could slow down the St. Thomas More/Rapid City Christian tennis team.

The Cavaliers pulled off a couple of upsets in the second-round singles matches as unseeded Nichole Eckrich and Aisling Gould each took out a No. 4 seed.

Eckrich held off Pierre's Diedra Beck, 6-3, 6-4, at Flight 6 singles to advance. Gould defeated Sioux Falls Washington's Alex Stanley, 7-5, 6-2, in Flight 2 singles play.

"They exceeded my expectations. They were so mentally tough and so ready to play, particularly my No. 5 and No. 6 flights," More coach Mary Helen Flanery said.

In Flight 5 singles, Catherine Gibbens earned a 6-4, 6-0 win over Mitchell's Marissa Tubbs in the second round.

Gibbens and Eckrich teamed up for a 7-5, 6-3 second-round win in

Flight 3 doubles. Rapid City Stevens' Taylor Messinger and Amanda Przymus defeated Gibbens and Eckrich 6-2, 6-1 in the third round.

"They're beginning to believe that they are actually very good tennis players. I think that's been an issue because we just don't play some of these other teams," Flanery said. "To play some of these higher-seeded teams and beat them is huge for their self confidence and their belief."

St. Thomas More ended the first day solidly in fifth place with 332 points. Sioux Falls O'Gorman and Rapid City Stevens lead the field with 392 points. Watertown is third with 376 followed by Sioux Falls Lincoln with 356.

Rapid City Stevens is in good position as all six Raider singles players advanced to the quarterfinals and all three doubles teams moved into Saturday's semifinals.

"If the girls can play as well tomorrow as they did today, then we'll be in good shape," Stevens head coach Jason Olson. "We didn't lose a set today. It's always impressive for the girls to get out there and show they're ready to complete."

The Flight 3 singles featured a series of Black Hills matchups.

In the first round, Central's Kim Lucas downed Spearfish's Kirby Jones,

6-2, 3-6, 6-1, and then Stevens' Cassie Malik defeated Lucas, 6-0, 6-0, in the second round to advance.

Rapid City Central's Hallie Sims was the only Cobbler singles player to win in the second round with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over No. 5-seeded Sam Stanley of Sioux Falls Washington.

Claire Porter lost in Flight 2 singles to Sioux Falls O'Gorman's Hannah VandeMark, last year's Flight 3 singles champion. Sims and Porter then lost in the second round of doubles play as none of the Cobbler doubles teams advanced.

Spearfish's Hannah Parrett defeated Aberdeen Roncalli's Alex Mattern,

6-0, 6-0 in the first round of Flight 2 singles. Parrett lost in the second round to Sioux Falls Roosevelt's Alex Strange, 6-2, 6-1.

Singles quarterfinal action gets underway at 8:30 a.m. MDT in Sioux Falls today. The doubles semifinals and finals will be played on Saturday.