WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 21, 2019) - The Queens College women's tennis team survived its toughest test of the season thus far as the Knights claimed a 4-3 victory over District of Columbia on Monday (Oct. 21). With the win, the Knights have won the 2019 East Coast Conference regular-season championship and will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ECC Tournament to be held on the campus of Queens College.

The contest was a battle of two unbeaten teams, as QC entered the match at 7-0 overall and 4-0 in conference contests while UDC was 10-0 and 4-0 in ECC play at the on-set of play. Queens won at the top doubles tandem as Luisa Auffarth and Maja Makal took a 6-3 decision over Simone Parn and Marija Milic. The host Firebirds, however, won the other two tandems of doubles tennis and claimed the overall point to lead the match by a 1-0 score.

Queens would have to win four singles matches to claim the victory, and the Knights were able to do so albeit in a fight to the finish. Auffarth's 6-4, 6-3 win over Parn at the top-flight of singles and Makal's 6-1, 6-4 dispatching of Milic at No. 2 singles were countered by UDC winning at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. Mana Koitabashi came up huge at sixth-singles with a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Estefania Castrillon while Aleksandra Caricic was the benefactor of an unfortunate retirement at fifth-singles by UDC's Izabella Bilecova. Caricic was down 6-7, 2-3 in the match to Bilecova before the injury occurred as Queens won the requisite four points to claim the overall match victory.

With the win, the final four in this weekend's ECC Tournament is set: Queens is the No. 1 overall seed with District of Columbia at No. 2. St. Thomas Aquinas and Molloy follow suit, meaning that the Knights will play the Lions on Friday (Oct. 25) while the Firebirds will duel with the Spartans as well. Match times are to be determined.