ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – Opening East Coast Conference play to begin the 2023-2024 dual schedule, the Queens College women's tennis team traveled to Orangeburg, N.Y. for a Saturday evening match against the defending champions Spartans of Saint Thomas Aquinas College at Match Point Tennis Club.
In a match that two hours and 27 minutes, it would require a comeback rally from the Knights Saturday night for a win. After the Spartans earned the doubles point, the Knights would rally in singles play to earn a 4-3 comeback victory to open the season on a winning note.
With the victory, the Knights open the season with a 1-0 record and end a two-match losing streak against their conference foes.
Doubles
To begin the evening play, the #3 doubles pair of junior
Caroline Hany-Fawzy (Alexandria, Egypt) and senior
Ana Tarbujaru (Valcea, Romania) would fall to the score of 6-2 to the pair of Kadiri Amanda and Sonia Tandelova.
The home side would take a 1-0 match as the French pair of sophomore
Apolline Lamy (Toulouse, France) and Graduate student
Eva Rivoal (Saint Denis de Pile, France) were defeated 6-2 by Jemima Parkinson and Elita Silins at the #2 doubles court.
It would be a sweep for the Spartans in doubles play as the #1 doubles duo of senior
Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland) and junior
Saga Berggren (Uddevalla, Sweden) fell 6-4 to the ITA East Regional Runner-ups in Ebba Rosberg and Samanta Robles.
Singles
Needing to rally, it would be the veteran Makal who would start the comeback with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 sweep over Viktoriia Pavlovets at the #2 singles court to tie the match at 1-1.
Queens would take a 2-1 lead as Tarbujaru made quick work of Kateryna Kryuchkova at #6 singles with a 6-1, 6-2 two-set sweep.
But the home side would tie the match 2-2 as Berggren fell 6-4, 7-5 in a closely contested match at #5 singles to Silins.
Rivoal would battle at #1 singles against the 2023 ITA Women's East Regional Singles Champion Rosberg. After dropping the first set to the score of 6-3, the graduate student would take a 4-0 lead in the second set before Rosberg battled back forcing a second-set tiebreaker. But it would be the Spartans who take a 3-2 match lead as Rivoal fell 7-6
(7-5) in a hard-fought second-set loss.
Trailing 3-2, Fawzy would tie the match following a victory at #3 singles over Robles. After earning a convincing 6-2 first set victory, Fawzy would trail 4-0 in the second set as Robles looked to be forcing a third set. But the junior would battle back earning six straight points for a 6-4 second-set victory as the Knights tied the match at 3-3.
With the match all tied at 3-3, attention shifted to the final court at play in the #4 singles between Lamy and Tandelova. It would be a tough first loss for Lamy as she battled back to tie the first set at 4-4 before Tandelova earned a 6-4 first set victory.
In the second set, Lamy would take a 3-0 lead before Tandelova tied the set at 3-3. Both players would exchange points forcing a second set tiebreaker to potentially determine the winner. After dropping the first point, the sophomore would earn seven straight points to earn a 7-6
(7-1) second-set victory as she forced a third set to decide the match.
With the match tied at 3-3 and a battle of two evenly matched teams, it was only right that the winner would be decided in a three-set battle.
Tandelova would take a 2-0 lead to begin the third set before the French player won five straight points to take a commanding lead of 5-2. Needing one more point, Lamy would drop her third point of the set before clinching the match with a 6-3 third set victory as Queens opened their dual match schedule with a 4-3 comeback victory Saturday evening.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Alan Nagel and the Knights will now use the week to prepare for another ECC match on Saturday (Oct. 7) evening as they welcome the Lions of Molloy University to Flushing. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
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), Women's Tennis (qcwtennis).
