Over the month of July, the Top 25 Moments of the 2012-13 athletic season will be remembered each day, with the #1 moment being revealed on July 26th.
May 15, 2013
MOBILE, Ala. – The Embry-Riddle women's tennis team improved its overall record to 12-10 with a 5-2 upset of eighth-seeded Westmont (17-3) in a four-hour match in the second round of the NAIA National Championship at the Mobile Tennis Center. With the win, the Eagles advanced to the quarterfinal round where they will take on top-seed Xavier (La.) for the second time this season.
Meena Bennett and
Ana Gonzalez-Hoy registered the first point of the day for the Blue and Gold, downing the Westmont pair of Alyson Meyer and Fernanda Rivera 8-2 at the No. 3 position. At No. 2 doubles Nicci Yvanocvich and Grace Davis evened the score with an 8-4 win over
Giovanna Tomiotto and
Paola Montero. The final doubles match off the court was at the top spot where
Kristina Marova and
Hui-I Huang went down a break, 3-1, to the 11th-ranked tandem of Tara Yekrang and Jessica Cedillo. The Eagle pair was able to battle back, however, and earned an 8-5 win to give ERAU a 2-1 lead heading into singles.
Singles play saw Emily Keach top Gonzalez-Hoy 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5 to tie the team score at 2-2. Huang and Marova completed their singles matches within seconds of each other as Huang downed Yvanovich 6-1, 6-1 at the top spot and Marova bested Yekrang 6-2 6-3 on court two.
With the team score at 4-2, the Eagles looked to Tomiotto and Bennett, who each notched first-set wins, to clinch the victory. Tomiotto's opponent, Davis battled back to win the second set 6-4 to force a third frame. Meanwhile on court six, Bennett dropped four of the first five games, but regained her composure and knotted the score at 5-5. The closing games of the second set featured multiple 40-ball rallies and eventually went to a 6-6 deadlock. In the tiebreaker, Bennett went ahead 5-1, but Carolyn Stevens answered with six straight points to win the set and force a decisive third frame.
The focus then shifted back to court four where Tomiotto had opened up a 4-2 lead on Davis in the third frame. The ERAU sophomore held serve to make it 5-2 and won four out of five points in the next game, including a double fault on Davis' final serve, to score the clincher and propel the Eagles into the national quarterfinals.
"This was one of our best matches of the year with regards to our will to win," ERAU Head Coach Dave Paschal said. "I don't think we played our best tennis today, but I think we were very focused on competing and being focused has been one of our main goals for the tournament. Hats off to Meena. Her fighting was contagious throughout the other courts. Her having anywhere from 20-50 ball rallies on multiple points was incredible. It showed how great a competitor she is."
