Flushing, N.Y. – It was a match short of nothing but electrifying and heart-shattering as the Queens College women's tennis team made their 21st straight NCAA Tournament appearance Friday afternoon as the host of the East Region No. 2 bracket.
The Knights seeded No. 3 in the East Region matched up against the No. 6 seed Franklin Pierce University Ravens in the first round with the winner advancing to face the No. 2 seed District of Columbia Saturday afternoon.
The doubles competition would prove to be the important match point as both sides split singles matches, but ultimately the Ravens would advance to the next round defeating the Knights 4-3 in a match that lasted close to three and half hours.
Doubles Competition
It was the Ravens who took an early as the Knights' No. 2 senior Nathalie Ulander (Stockholm, Sweden) / junior Lilly Schmidt (Montabaur, Germany) fell 6-0 against the Ravens pair of Estela Carra / Anais Geslin.
But Queens would quickly tie the match as the No. 3 doubles duo of freshman Caroline Hany-Fawzy (Alexandria, Egypt) / sophomore Mariana Ling (Orlando, Fla) defeated Maria Penalver Aguilo / Zoe Asterio Correa to the score of 6-2.
With the doubles points up grab the No. 1 junior doubles duo of Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland) / Gabriela Sciarrotta(Woodmere, N.Y) battled but would fall 6-4 to Himani Mor / Liria Loria as the Ravens took a 1-0 heading into singles competition.
Singles Competition
Franklin Pierce would take a 2-0 lead as Sciarrotta fell 6-1, 6-2 to Geslin on court No. 4.
But Ling would quickly dispatch Correa on court No. 6 to the score of 6-0, 6-2 to cut the deficit down to 2-1.
However, the Ravens took a commanding lead of 3-1 as Ulander fell on court No. 2 to the score of 6-2, 6-2 against Mor.
With the Knights trailing 3-1, the Knights made their comeback rally in the remaining singles as matches at courts 1, 3, and 5 went into the tiebreaker to decide the final and with anyone match to claim.
At No. 1 singles Makal took the first set to the score of 6-2 before Aguilo defeated the Poland native in the second tiebreaker to the score of 7-6 (7-3). But Makal would bring the Knights within 3-2 as she defeated Aguilo to the score of 6-3.
While on court No. 5 junior Chole Certain (Obernai, France) won the first set 6-3 against Carra before falling 6-1 in the second set. The France native would tie the match 3-3 as she defeated Carra 6-3 in the third set shifting attention to Fawzy vs. Loria at court No. 3.
Fawzy fell 6-4 in the first set before she forced a third set tiebreaker facing match point as she trailed 5-2 to defeat Loria to the score of 7-5 in the second set. But it would be heartbreak in the end for the Knights as Fawzy fell 6-1 in the deciding third set as the Ravens advanced to the next round.
Head coach Alan Nagel and the Knights conclude the season with an overall record of 11-8 overall which saw the Knights advance to the East Coast Conference final and make their 21st NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament.
Provided by the Queens Sports Information Department.
