Rice University
Rice Invitational
Four Owls Reach Semifinals at Rice Invitational
10/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 7, 2011
2011 Rice Invite Day 1 Results 
HOUSTON - Rice University freshmen Natalie Beazant and Stephanie Nguyen both advanced to the singles semifinals round and teamed for a first-round win in doubles play during the first day of the 2011 Rice Invitational Friday at Jake Hess Tennis Stadium.
Rice sophomores Dominique Harmath and Kimberly Anicete also advanced to the semifinals in single splay. Additionally, Harmath teamed with Katie Gater for a first-round doubles victory.
Tournament play continues Saturday with two rounds of doubles play starting at 9 a.m. Singles semifinals and consolation play is set for noon Saturday. The tournament concludes Sunday.
"Today was a very good start to the tournament," said Rice tennis coach Elizabeth Schmidt. "The team played extremely hard and competed well. Also, I was pleased with our team's fitness level. This is something we have been focusing on this fall and it is nice to see their hard work pay off. It's important for us to build on the momentum from today and be ready to go again tomorrow.
"We have somewhat of a mini-dual match tomorrow since all four singles semifinals are Texas vs Rice," Schmidt said. "It should be a lot of fun for both our players and fans."
After receiving a first-round bye in the Blue Singles flight, Harmath defeated DePaul's Patricia Fargas 6-2, 6-1 and will play Texas' Elizabeth Begley on Saturday. On the other half of the bracket, Beazant defeated Penn State's Marie-Frederique Bedard 6-3, 6-1 then beat DePaul's Gia McKnight 6-2, 6-3. She will face Texas' Juliana Gajic in the flight's semifinals.
Also in the Blue Singles flight, Gater defeated LSU's Yvette Viaar 6-1, 6-4 before dropping a 6-1, 6-0 decision to Begley.
In the Gray Singles flight, Nguyen defeated Penn State's Sarah Henderson 6-0, 6-3 then posted a 6-1, 1-6, 6-0 victory over Tulane's Linday Dvorak. Anicete posted a 6-2, 6-1 win over Penn State's Maria Prishlyak then defeated DePaul's Carolin Neumann 6-2, 6-2.
Nguyen will play Texas' Alex Martin on Saturday while Anicete will play Texas' Annat Rabinovich in the Gray Singles flight semifinals on Saturday.
Also in Gray Singles play, Leah Fried posted a 6-1, 6-4 first-round win over Tulane's Emily Dvorak before losing to Rabinovich in the quarterfinals.
In doubles play, Beazant and Nguyen posted an 8-1 win over LSU's Hayley Everett and Paige Bahnsen. Harmath and Gater beat Penn State's Henderson and Prishlyak 8-4.
Players Mentioned
