Jorge Riano/Sideline Pics, LLC

Wando senior Cori Hallman gets set to return a serve last week during her match with Kristen Farmer of Berkeley. The Warriors won the match 6-0, setting a state record for consecutive wins, at 90.

The Wando girls’ tennis coach was never a big fan of even bringing it up, let alone having a conversation about it.

Last  Tuesday afternoon, she had no choice.

Williamson paced from court to court as her Warriors squad set a new state record by winning their 90th consecutive match.

Spartanburg held the old record, winning 89 straight from 1980-87.

And like so many wins along the way, Wando broke the record in typical fashion, taking out Berkeley 6-0 in just under one hour.

That was the good news.

Afterwards, it was time for Williamson to finally address that dreaded subject.

“I’m glad it’s finally behind us now and we don’t have to worry about it anymore,” said a laughing Williamson. “It does feel good to break the state record though, I have to admit.”

The streak spans back as far as early 2004. And although there weren’t many scares along the way, it was ironically enough Berkeley who gave the Warriors their final one less than one month ago.

On Sept. 24 Williamson took her reserves for match at Berkeley. The state’s longest winning streak came down to a match tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles, as a nervous Williamson and company narrowly avoided a monumental upset.

She wasn’t taking any chances this time.

“That almost beat us last time. I had some reserves in the last time we played, but today I put my ‘A’ team out there,” she said. “This was important to us. We did not want to lose this match.”

The concept of Wando losing Tuesday’s match was never really an option, as all five singles players won their respective matches in two sets, each by a score of 6-0.

No. 1 singles player Corin Hallman was excited to be part of a record setting program.

“I just really love being a part of this team and this program. We all worked very hard for this opportunity and to finally accomplish this, it’s an amazing feeling,” she said.

“It would have been heartbreaking to lose today. You think about all those teams before us that played such a big part in this streak, and you don’t want to let them down. You don’t want to be that team who loses.”

Hallman led the way, while juniors Clair Larkin and Alexis Prickett, along with freshman Catherine Martin and 7th grader Melanie Allen all won in singles action. Alex Klein, normally in the rotation, missed the game.

In doubles play, the team of junior Kayla Heller and sophomore Caroline Hairfield made short work of their opponents, cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

So how long can the streak continue for?

“I’m sure we’ll lose sometime and down the road some school out there will break our record. But we earned this, we’re very proud of it, and we’re going to enjoy it,” Williamson said.

With Wando winning the past five AAAA state titles, and sitting at 16-0 this season, it looks like an end to the streak is nowhere in sight.

And that’s just fine by Williamson—just don’t ask her to talk about it.