ResultsFlushing, NY --- In a rematch of the 2013 City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Women's Tennis Championship Final, the #3 seeded Brooklyn College Bulldogs were edged out by the #2 seeded Dolphins of the College of Staten Island in the semifinals round of the 2014 CUNYAC Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Sunday by a score of 5-4.
CSI defeated BC by an identical score of 5-4 in the final last year.
Brooklyn took the early lead as the Bulldogs won two out of three during doubles play.
The Dolphins would take the first win of the day at #2 doubles, as Nozima Toshpulatova and Michelle Kushnir defeated
Muriel Dervich and
Anastasia Volovik, 8-1. The Bulldogs would even the match at 1-1, as
Rosalia Xue and
Lauren Marino squeaked out a win at #2 doubles, 9-7, over Aziza Jurabaeva and Viktoriya Volkova. BC would go up 2-1 with a victory at #1 doubles where
Yuliya Orkis and
Suraya Maenhout downed Sabrina Bragerton-Nasert and Madiha Mulla, 8-5.
Moving to singles play, Orkis, the four-time CUNYAC Player of the Year, put Brooklyn up 3-1 after her win at #1 singles over Toshpulatova, 6-0, 6-0.
Volkova would make it 3-2 after her win at #6 singles over Marino, 6-1, 6-1; while Dervich, a 2014 CUNYAC Second Team All-Star and CUNYAC Sportsmanship Team member, would make it 4-2 following her win at #3 singles over Jurabaeva, 6-1, 6-1.
The Dolphins would tie the match at 4-4 after wins at #5 singles and #2 singles, as Kushnir defeated Volovik, 6-1, 6-2 and Bragerton-Nasert defeated Maenhout, 6-3, 6-2, respectively.
The match would come down to Xue and Mulla at #4 singles. Xue would take the early lead by edging out a 7-5 win in the first set. However, Mulla would not go down lightly, coming back to win the second set, 6-3, to force the third and decisive set to determine the winner. In the end, Mulla would complete the comeback win by taking a 6-1 win in the third set to send CSI, the defending CUNYAC Champions, to their third straight conference final appearance.
The #1 seeded Hunter College Hawks and 21-time conference champions defeated the #4 seeded Baruch College Bearcats, 5-3, in the other semifinals match. Hunter and CSI will play in the final on Wednesday, October 29th at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at 4:00 pm. It will be a rematch of the 2012 final that saw the Hawks defeat the Dolphins, 5-1, and gave Hunter its 13th straight title and 21st overall.
Brooklyn ends the fall portion of its 2014-2015 schedule with a 7-4 overall record. The Bulldogs will return to action on Tuesday, March 17th, as BC will travel to Morristown, NJ to take on the Eagles of the College of Saint Elizabeth.
