ORLANDO, Fla. – Seniors
Grace Riermann and
Sydney Rott became the second doubles duo in Bethel University women's tennis history to compete in the NCAA Championships where they won their opening round match 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Rani Jones and Alex Mednikova from RPI.
The victory not only moves them into the quarterfinals but earns them All-American status where Riermann is now a four-time doubles All-American, six-time All-American overall, and Rott earning the status for the first time in her career.
Their next match comes Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. where they face Mary Washington's Abby Moghtader and Lauren Quinn who upset the third-seeded team from Wesleyan (CT) in straight sets.
Both teams took break points to begin the opening set. The Royals got break point going up 4-1 before dropping the next four games and the opening set.
Riermann and Rott went down 3-1 in set two before getting break point evening it up at 3-3 taking the final four points of the game. The duo forced a third set getting another break point at 5-3 before Rott held strong on the serve for the 6-3 decision.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair where both teams opened with break points before getting even at 4-4. BU took the lead with a huge breakpoint before the final game got to duce. Off the strong serve of Riermann BU held on set and match point.
Earlier in the day Riermann competed in the singles draw for the second time in her career. She fell by a score of 3-6, 1-6 to Suzuka Nishino of UT-Dallas.
