Women's tennis beats Monmouth, Knox on opening weekend

GALESBURG, Ill. - Sidney Griffith and Liz Nimmo each went 2-0 on Saturday and the Simpson women's tennis team used strong doubles play to post road wins over Monmouth and Knox. Simpson beat Monmouth 7-2 and Knox 6-3.

The Storm (2-1) opened the season with a 9-0 loss to Cornell on Friday night, but responded by winning 5 of 6 doubles matches in Illinois on Saturday.

The Monmouth match started with Simpson taking 2 of 3 in doubles, as Cassidy Bierbrodt and Sidney Griffith won 8-0 at the No. 2 spot and Kelly Kuebler and Liz Nimmo won 8-1 at No. 3. The Storm won the 2-6 positions in singles play, including super-tiebreaker wins by Kayla Reusche and Bierbrodt. Reusche beat Rachel Leifheit 4-6, 6-2, 10-2 at No. 2 and Bierbrodt came back to beat Morgan Holle 1-6, 6-4, 10-7 at No. 3.

Simpson was perfect in doubles play against Knox. Again, the teams of Bierbrodt and Griffith and Nimmo and Kuebler won at 2 and 3, respectively, while Reusche and Kelli Greiner added an 8-6 win at the No. 1 position. Greiner earned a three-set win at No. 1 singles while Griffith and Nimmo won in straight sets at 4 and 5.

Up next: The Storm open Iowa Conference play at league-newcomer Nebraska Wesleyan on Thursday, Sept. 8. Start time is set for 4 p.m.