FLUSHING, N.Y.- It would not be an East Coast Conference women's tennis championship final without the Queens College women's tennis team! On Friday afternoon, the Queens College women's tennis team (5-2) advanced to their 10^thstraight ECC final with a 4-1 victory St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans (9-2).
 
Needing four points to make their 18^th finals appearance in 19 seasons, the Knights trailed 1-0 as the #3 doubles pair of sophomore / Chole Certain (Obernai, France) / freshman Shakima Hotaki (Flushing, N.Y.) fell 6-4 to the pair of Eliza Mulder / Paula Palero. But the Knights showing no quit dug in deep as the #1 double pairs of junior Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland) / junior Gabriela Sciarrotta (Woodmere, N.Y.) tied the match 1-1 with a 7-6 victory over Vera Gak Anagrova / Karina Blas. 
 
The #2 doubles duo pair of Nathalie Ulander (Stockholm, Sweden) / Lilly Schmidt (Montabaur, Germany) would give the Knights a 1-0 lead as they defeated the pair of Elita Silins / Samanta Robles 7-5. 
 
The lead would be short-lived as Robles defeated Hotaki 6-0, 6-0 to tie the match 1-1 at singles #4. With the Knights trailing at two other singles court, the Poland native Makal cruised to a two-set victory over Blas at #1 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory putting the Knights up 2-1. 
 
At #2 singles Ulander would put Queens in a commanding lead with a two-set victory over Viktoriia Pavlovets to the score of 6-2, 6-3 and inching closer to a finals berth. 
 
The attention turned to court #5 with the France native Certain up 5-2 over Jemima Parkinson. Certain took the first set with a 6-3 victory and was up 5-1 before Parkinson trimmed the lead down to 5-2. Parkinson would serve two straight faults giving Certain a 6-2 victory and clinching a matchup against the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday afternoon.
 
Singles play at #3 and #6 went unfinished. 
 
With the win, the Knights set up a date against the ECC regular-season champions UDC Firebirds (10-0) who swept Daemen College Wildcats earlier in the day to advance to their second final in three seasons. 
 
Saturday matchup against the Firebirds will see both teams face each other in the final for the second time in two seasons. Queens defeated UDC 4-3 as the Knights clinched the first of back-to-back titles in 2019. 

Live Stream Link 
Each match of the championship will be streamed live on the ECC Network. Watch the ECC Network at www.eccsportsnetwork.com or by downloading the ECC Network app. Find the app by searching "ECC Network" on Apple or Android mobile phones and tablets or on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku streaming devices. The broadcasts will mainly focus on the No. 1 flight in both doubles and singles but will switch to other courts when possible throughout the match.
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