Earning the No. 1 seed in any tournament usually carries with it a certain amount of pressure. United South Central’s Molly Yokiel and Kellie Robbins wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I kind of like it,” Robbins said Monday, after she and her doubles teammate received a second-round scare in the Section 2A Girls Individual Tennis Tournament at Swanson Tennis Center. “It makes you try harder, it make you focus more on what you need to get done.”

Adding to the pressure for the USC duo was the fact that they came in undefeated with a 19-0 record and had not dropped a set all season. They hadn’t even gone to a tiebreaker all year.

“We pretty much knew we’d be the No. 1 seed because of our record,” said Yokiel. “We know that once the tournament starts the records don’t matter. You still have to go out and win your matches.”

The Rebels’ duo received their stiffest challenge of the year after receiving a first-round bye. In Round 2, the USC tandem took on the Maple River pair of Mackenzie Volz and Tabitha Woitas and cruised to an easy 6-2 win in the first set. Volz and Woitas rallied in Set 2, however, to earn a 4-6 victory. Yokiel and Robbins regroups in the third set for a 6-2 win.

“We just had to stop playing so aggressively,” Robbins said. “We were going for too many winners we had to start playing a little more conservatively.”

Yokiel said she wasn’t surprised the Maple River team gave them so much trouble.

“We’ve played them a few times now, and we always win the first set easily and then the second set is always very close. This was the first time they actually won the second set on us so we had to bear down in the third.”

Yokiel and Robbins were not tested nearly as much in the quarterfinals as they rolled over a duo from Jordan 6-0. 6-1. Joining the USC tandem in the Section 2A doubles semifinals will be Tina Aarsvold and Taylor Volk of St. Peter; Anna Dreismane and Kayla Trocke of Sibley East; and Mandi Stencel and Sara Anderson of Maple River.

In singles play, three of the top four seeds advanced to the semifinals.

Top seed Heather Annis of Maple River won a pair of straight-set victories; Second seed Katie Huber of St. Peter lost only one game while winning two straight matches; and third seed Maura Flaherty of Belle Plaine held off Genny Petricka of Le Center-Cleveland/Montgomery-Lonsdale 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in the quarterfinals to advances.

The other Section 2A singles semifinalist is fifth seed Ali Ramsley of USC. She knocked off No. 4 seed Erin Zahler of Jordan 7-5, 6-2 in her quarterfinal match.

The Section 2A Individual Tournament continues at 4 p.m. today in St. Peter.