Orangeburg, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Women's Tennis team dropped the opening match of its East Coast Conference schedule to rival Queens College, 4-3 on Saturday evening at Match Point Tennis Club.
STAC began the evening, taking all three doubles matches, as Sonia Tandelova and Amanda Kadiri took a 6-2 victory at No. 3 to set the tempo. The team of Elita Silins and Jemima Parkinson would clinch the all important point for the Spartans with a 6-2 triumph at the No. 2 position, with the sweep coming via the No. 1 doubles pair of Ebba Rosberg and Samanta Villegas Robles.
The host Knights would then take a 3-1 advantage with singles victories at #2, 6 and 3, to put the Spartans on the ropes. However, Ebba Rosberg (6-3, 7-6 (5)) and Elita Silins (6-4, 7-5) rallied the maroon and gold back even with wins at the #1 and #5 spots. In the deciding match between Apolline Lamy and Sonia Tandelova in the #4 position, Lamy would take a 6-4 first set victory, before Tandelova picked up an exciting 7-6 (1) triumph to force a third set. Unfortunately, Lamy would be too strong and took the set 6-3, which helped power Queens to the 4-3 match victory.
Ebba Rosberg and Elita Silins each went 2-0 on the evening with both doubles and singles victories over the Knights.
QUEENS 4/STAC 3 - OFFICIAL RESULTS
DOUBLES
Order of Finish: 3, 2*, 1
SINGLES
Order of finish: 2, 6, 3, 1, 5, 4*
Queens Record: 1-0, 1-0 ECC
STAC Record: 1-1, 0-1 ECC
THE ROCKHILL REPORT
"Although this was a great college tennis match, it was a difficult match for us and this loss is on me", said Head Coach Dan Rockhill. "I made some choices that likely cost us the win. Even still, we gave ourselves an opportunity to win the match but could not win one or two key points to close things."
"We, especially coach Neil, have been working on our doubles in practice and I am proud of how we played in that segment of the match. We served and returned well and were aggressive at the net."
"Ebba (Rosberg), who was today’s Most Impactful Player, and Elita (Silins) continued their good play from the ITA, remarked Rockhill". "They both have been working hard and doing the things necessary to master their craft."
"Tennis is an outdoor sport and we had trouble adjusting to the indoor environment", commented Rockhill. "Queens is very comfortable playing all their tennis in the bubble, which is a huge advantage in this conference and region. They hit through us in a few spots. I was very impressed with the way Alan’s team competed. They could very well be the best team in the East Region."
"This was a good experience for us and we learned quite a bit. We are going to be just fine. I am confident that our players will trust the process and do the work necessary to get us where we need to be."
UP NEXT
St. Thomas Aquinas College visits Molloy University on Friday, October 6 (4:00 p.m.).
