Box Score

Brooklyn, NY --- Battling through grueling heat that felt in the triple digits, the Brooklyn College Women's Tennis team defeated the Cougars of Kean University by a score of 6-3 at the Roosevelt Courts on the BC campus. With the win, Brooklyn starts off the 2014 campaign at 1-0, while Kean begins the season at 0-1.

The Bulldogs would begin the match by taking two out of three matches during doubles play. Senior Yuliya Orkis and sophomore Diana Beshta paired up to defeat the team of Erin Hendricks and Brianna Martin, 8-2, at #1 doubles, while the duo of junior Suraya Maenhout and sophomore Muriel Dervich picked up the win at #2 doubles over Alyssa Peterson and Rose Hughes, 8-4. Kean earned the win at #3 doubles, as Ayana Bell and Shruti Nadkarni downed senior Rosalia Xue and sophomore Lauren Marino, 8-1.

Brooklyn would continue its strong play at the top of the lineup, as BC took four of the six singles flights. Orkis, the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) Preseason Player of the Year, defeated Hendricks, 6-0, 6-1, at #1 singles, while Maenhout took care of Christy Verdi, 6-0, 6-3 at #2 singles.

To go along with her win in doubles, Dervich added a win at #3 singles over Nadkarni, 6-3, 6-3, as the transfer from The City College of New York (CCNY) had an impressive debut for the Bulldogs.

Beshta picked up the sixth win of the match for Brooklyn with a 7-5, 6-2 win at #4 singles over Hughes.

For Kean, Peterson defeated Xue, 6-2, 7-5, at #5 singles, while Bell blanked sophomore Love Olufemi, 6-0, 6-0 at #6 singles.

Marino and Olufemi made their collegiate debuts today for BC.

"It is always important to win the first match of the year," said head coach Ahmad Odetalla. "I'm glad we were able to pull this win out. We will be playing some tough matches throughout the season and momentum from this match will definitely help in the long run."

Brooklyn returns to the courts on Thursday, September 11th, as the Bulldogs will travel to Staten Island, NY to take on the Dolphins of the College of Staten Island in a crucial early season CUNYAC matchup. The match will be a re-match of last year's CUNYAC final that saw the Dolphins edge out the Bulldogs, 5-4, for the conference title. The match is scheduled for a 4:00 pm start time.