SPARKILL, N.Y. – It had been 416 days since their last match but the Queens College Knights women's tennis opened their 2021 season on a high note with a 4-3 East Coast Conference (ECC) victory over the undefeated St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans on Saturday at the St. Thomas Aquinas College Tennis Courts.
 
Playing their first match since March 4, 2020 when they went up against Fairleigh Dickinson University in Flushing returned to action on the road in conference play against the Spartans. 
 
But the Knights (1-0, 1-0 ECC) started their season in winning fashion as they handed the Spartans (7-1, 3-1 ECC) their first loss of the season in the 4-3 victory. 
 
For the past 21 years (records before 2001-02 season not yet available), the Knights have won their opening match to start the season 1-0.
 
In a match that went to the wire, the doubles point proved to the clincher as both sides split the singles matches.
 
Doubles Competition
 
The Knights started doubles play on a winning note as the No. 1 doubles duo of Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland) / Lovisa Engstrand (Stockholm, Sweden) gave the Knights a 1-0 lead with a 6-1 victory over the Spartans pair of Karina Blas / Samanta Robles. 
 
But the Spartans would knot the doubles score at 1-1 with a victory at the No. 2 courts as the Knights No. 2 duo of Lilly Schmidt (Montabaur, Germany) / Nathalie Ulander (Stockholm, Sweden) making their debuts in QC colors fell 6-4 to Jemima Parkinson / Ayesha Burnett. 
 
But the Knights took the 1-0 lead as the No. 3 pair of Gabriela Sciarotta (Woodmere, N.Y.) / Aleksandra Caricic (New York, N.Y.) clinched the doubles point over Viktoriia Pavlovets / Eliza Mulder with a 6-4 victory. 
 
Singles Competition
 
The ECC Preseason Player of the Year Makal put the Knights up 2-0 following a two-set victory (6-4, 6-3) over Blas at the No. 1 singles slot. Ulander would give the Knights a 3-0 lead with a hard-fought first set (7-5) victory before completing a 6-2 second set victory over Pavlovets at the No. 2 spot.
 
At the No. 4 slot Sciarotta dropped the first set 6-1 but fought back in the second set, however she would ultimately fall 7-6 to Parkinson as the Spartans cut the deficit down to 3-1. At the No. 3 spot Engstrand took a first set victory of 6-2, before falling in the second and third to the score of 6-2, 4-6, 1-6 against Robles. 
 
Leading 3-2, Caricic would clinch the match for the Knights in a three-set thriller over Burnett at the No. 5 spot. Caricic went up 1-0 following the first-set victory of 6-3 but fell 3-6 in the second set. In teh deciding set, she would sweep Burnett to the score of 6-0 to give the Knights their season-opening win. 
 
Playing at the No. 6 spot, Schmidt fell in straight sets to Mulder as she was defeated to the score of 4-6, 3-6 with the Spartans winning their third singles match of the day. 
 
UP NEXT: It will be a short rest for the Knights as they return to action in Flushing on Sunday (Apr. 25) as the Spartans come to town. First serve is slated for 10:00 a.m. start time. 
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), Twitter (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny).