WILMINGTON, DEL. – Having advanced to the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Women's Tennis Championship match, the No. 1 seed Queens College women's tennis team faced the No. 2 seed Thomas Jefferson University Rams at the Delcastle Tennis Center Sunday afternoon, with the conference title and automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship on the line.
In a championship match that lasted more than three hours, the Knights battled across all three doubles courts and six singles courts, rallying to even the match at 3-3. However, Queens came up just short in the deciding match, falling to the Rams, 4-3.
Doubles Recap
The Knights fell behind in doubles play as the No. 3 pairing of sophomore Anishka Amalnathan and freshman Elise Bosmans dropped a 6-3 decision to Kalmoira Ralli and Madina Omarova, giving the Rams an early advantage.
Queens responded at the No. 1 doubles position, where the senior pairing of Sixtine Goubet and Lilie Bizouerne earned a 6-3 victory over Anouk Oderkerk and Alycia Veroux to even the doubles competition.
With the doubles point on the line, sophomore Ela Vasic and junior Johanne Genestay faced Isabella Lazzerini and Sophia Babar at No. 2 doubles. The Knights built a 5-2 lead before the Rams rallied to take a 6-5 advantage. Queens fought back to force a tiebreaker, setting up a back-and-forth battle for the deciding point. Ultimately, the Jefferson pairing prevailed, 10-8, in the tiebreaker to secure the doubles point and give the Rams a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
Singles Recap
Trailing 1-0, freshman Vilte Vaitkeviciute got the Knights on the board with a dominant straight-sets victory over Marley Alvarado at No. 6 singles, winning 6-0, 6-1 to even the match at 1-1.
Bizouerne followed with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Omarova at No. 3 singles, putting Queens ahead, 2-1.
The Rams responded with back-to-back victories to regain the lead. Vasic fell 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 singles before Genestay dropped a 6-0, 7-6 (7-4) decision at No. 5 singles, giving Jefferson a 3-2 advantage.
With the championship hanging in the balance, the remaining matches were at No. 1 singles, featuring Goubet against Oderkerk, and No. 4 singles, where Amalnathan faced Ralli.
Goubet dropped the opening set, 6-2, but the senior rallied in the second set, earning a hard-fought 7-5 victory to force a deciding third set. Goubet continued her comeback in the final set, defeating Oderkerk, the CACC Player of the Year, 6-4 to even the match at 3-3 and send the championship decision to the No. 4 singles court.
With the conference title on the line, Amalnathan responded after dropping the opening set, 6-0, against Ralli. The sophomore bounced back with a 6-4 second-set victory to force a deciding third set.
The final set proved to be a tightly contested battle, with both players trading games throughout. Trailing 5-4, Amalnathan rallied to even the set at 5-5, putting a potential tiebreaker within reach. However, Ralli won the final two games to secure a 7-5 third-set victory, clinching the championship for Jefferson and handing the Knights a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat.
Following the championship match, seniors Sixtine Goubet and Lilie Bizouerne were named to the CACC Women's Tennis All-Tournament Team.
The Knights conclude the fall portion of their schedule with a 12-2 overall record and will turn their attention to the spring semester as they look to strengthen their resume for a potential NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship at-large bid. The spring 2027 schedule will be released at a later date.
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