FLUSHING, N.Y.- On Saturday afternoon, the Queens College women's tennis (5-3) returned to the East Coast Conference final for the 18^th time in 19 seasons and were in search of 3-PEAT as they took on the regular-season champions Firebirds of the University of the District of Columbia (11-0) at the Queens College Tennis Center. 
 
A win Saturday afternoon would have clinched a 3-Peat and secured and an automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament in Spring. But it has been a season unlike any other for Queens as they were dealt with injuries at crucial points of the season.
 
But head coach Alan Nagel and the Knights battled through injuries and lineup shuffles to return to the conference final to defend their crown but the final ending would be unhappy for the #3 seed team. The Knights would be dethroned as ECC Champions as the Firebirds clinched their first title since the 2011 season with a 4-2 victory. 
 
The title defense started on a rocky note despite the #1 doubles pair of Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland)/ Gabriela Sciarrotta (Woodmere, N.Y.) giving the Knights an early 1-0 lead in the doubles competition with a 6-4 victory over Simone Parn / Sofia Bellucco. But the Firebirds would tie the doubles competition with a victory at the #2 doubles as the duo of Nathalie Ulander (Stockholm, Sweden) / Lilly Schmidt (Montabaur, Germany) fell 6-3 to Joanna Skrzypczynska / Laura Marie. 
 
With the doubles point knotted 1-1, it was anyone's point for the taking to go up 1-0 in the match at #3 doubles. The Knights pair of Chole Certain (Obernai, France) / Shakima Hotaki (Flushing, N.Y.) fought hard as they forced the match into the first breaker, but it would be the Firebirds who would go up 1-0 as Claudia Bahamon / Mariona Franco took the 7-5 victory. 
 
Trailing 1-0, the Knights would now need four singles victories to clinch the title. In a battle that lasted over three hours, the Knights showed no quit as they took four singles matches into the third set. 
 
The Firebirds would take a 2-0 lead as Skrzypczynska defeated the Flushing native Hotaki 6-3, 6-2 at #4 singles. But Ulander would cut the deficit down to 2-1 as she defeated Franco in a three-set battle with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory at #2 Singles. 
 
At #6 singles senior Mana Koitabashi (Yokohama, Japan) took a heartbreaking first set tie-breaker loss of 6-7 (2-7), 3-6 as Firebirds Valentina Brienza gave her team a 3-1 lead
 
The Knights continued to battle back as all three remaining singles at courts 1, 3, & 5 entered the third set.
 
Sciarrotta would drop the first set 6-7 (5-7) before the Woodmere native battled back to win the last two sets with a 6-4, 6-1 victory and trimmed the lead to 3-2 with a win at #3 singles. 
 
Now the attention shifted to the final two matches with the #1 singles players for the Knights and Firebirds putting on a classic. Parn would win the first set 6-4 before Makal took the second set with a 7-5 victory. 
 
After trailing 1-0 following a first set loss at #5 singles, the France native Certain forced a third set with a 6-3 second set victory. But the match would remain unfinished as Makal would be defeated 6-4 in the third set as Queens' comeback fell short. 
 
With the fall season complete, Queens will return to action for their next half of the schedule in Spring 2022. A full schedule will be released in the near future. 
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