Rice University
Beazant vs. Addison
Beazant Races Into Second Round
5/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NCAA Women's Singles Championship Bracket / NCAA Tennis Tournament Central
by Chuck Pool (cpool@rice.edu)
Rice senior Natalie Beazant weathered a sluggish start to race to a record-setting win in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Singles Championship at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas on Wednesday.
She will face USC's Giuliana Olmos at noon on Thursday in the Round of 32. The winner will earn All-American status and advance to the Round of 16.
Beazant (20-3 and ranked 32nd in the nation) overcame an early 4-1 surge by two-time Texas All-American Breaunna Addison to win five consecutive games and take the opening set. She then continued that momentum in the second, grabbing a pair of early breaks in the second set on her way to a 6-4, 6-2 win.
"We knew going in that this would be a great match," Rice head coach Elizabeth Schmidt said. "Addison came out firing and Nat started a little slow. However, Nat did a fabulous job staying calm, making some adjustments and, ultimately, found her footing out there. I know she is looking forward to another opportunity to compete at the highest level tomorrow."
The victory was Beazant's fifth in seven career NCAA Singles matches to set a Rice career record for NCAA competition. She had been tied with Wendy Wood, who posted a 4-3 career mark while earning All-American honors in 1985 and 1986.
She is the first women's tennis player in Conference USA history to reach the Round of 32 three times in her career.
Players Mentioned
