The College of Staten Island took to the courts today after a long layoff and the results were not favorable, as they fell narrowly to Brooklyn College by a 5-4 count at the Roosevelt Courts on the BC campus.  The loss dipped CSI to 3-2 overall and 3-1 in CUNYAC play, while the Bulldogs lifted to 5-3, 2-2, respectively.

On paper the teams appeared to be evenly matched and that’s what the spectators got in a match that lasted 3:10.  

CSI took the first big step forward by taking two out of three doubles flights to land a 2-1 lead.  The No. 3 team of Mariah DeGuia and Aziza Jurabaeva were efficient in an 8-3 win over BC’;s Natalie Abramov and Fatma Serageldin.  The other two flights were razor close.

In the top spot, BC got even, but not without a fight.  Ievgenia Kostenko and Rosa Aksanov were victorious in an 8-5 winner over CSI’s Tristiana Adragna and Viktoriya Volkova, who was playing in her very first match of the season today.  The Dolphins, however, powered back up by one when Hannah Bruschi and Samantha Maizer were able to outlast BC’s Georgeen Belrose and Rebecca Solano by an 8-7 count.

From there, play turned to Singles and that’s where Brooklyn shined near the top of the lineup.  Kostenko at No. 1, Aksanov at No. 2 and Belrose at No. 3 all won their matches, but CSI’s Jurabaeva responded with a 6-2, 7-5, hard-fought win against Shannel Johnson at No. 4.  That made the score 4-3 overall in Brooklyn’s favor.

CSI’s Katherine Villarroel, who did not play Doubles,  scored a tremendous winner at No. 5 over Serageldin.  She would win the opening set, 6-4, but Serageldin responded with a 7-5 win in the second set.  Villarroel hunkered down and was then able to win the third set tiebreak, 10-7.

The deciding result then, appeared at No. 6.  There it was BC that prevailed.  Julia Mekler scored a 6-3 win over DeGuia in the opening set, but the freshman DeGuia returned the favor with a 6-3 win of her own in the second.  Down to a third and final set, it was Mekler that would get the last laugh, winning it again, 6-3.

The win by Brooklyn broke up an eight-game win streak that CSI had over the Bulldogs since 2011.  Both teams were idle for some time thanks to postponements to the schedule last week.  CSI hadn’t played sincle September 23, while BC was idle since September 25.

Up next for the Dolphins will be a date with St. Joseph’s College of Long Island on Sunday, October 8, at 12 Noon, in Patchogue.