Boxscore – The College of Staten Island women’s tennis team began their 2015 season on a winning note, using every bit of their three-hour match to knock out Yeshiva University, 5-4, as part of non-conference play at Queens College this evening.
CSI took a spring meeting over the Macabees, 8-1, but YU had different plans this time around and CSI had more than their hands full. Play started with doubles, and the Dolphins did appear crisp, staking themselves to a 2-1 lead.
The team of Sabrina Bragerton-Nasert and Madiha Mulla, excellent as a pair in 2014, picked up right where they left off, winning a very hard-fought, 8-7 (7-5) decision in the top-spot over YU’s Shani Hava and Tzipora Leiser. The other matches were equally competitive. CSI’s Nozima Toshpulatova, pairing with freshman Hannah Ramirez scored an 8-5 winner in the second position and YU grabbed the third with an 8-5 win as well.
The top three flights in singles play were played as 10-point pro-set matches, and CSI quickly increased their lead thanks to convincing wins by Bragerton-Nasert and Mulla. Up 4-2, CSI could not clinch however, as YU took wins in the top-spot with Hava and then at Nos. 4 & 6 as well.
That left freshman Samantha Mazier as the last hope for CSI in the No. 5 spot. Mazier started fast with a 6-2 win in the first set over Galila Shapiro, but then Shapiro countered with a 6-1 win in set number two. Down to a third and deciding stanza, Shapiro took a 3-1 lead, but the CSI frosh did not give up, and proceeded to rip off five-straight points to ultimately take a 6-3 win, clinching the win for CSI.
The hard-fought victory was the third-straight on opening day for the Dolphins, who will next face Sarah Lawrence College on Friday, September 4, in their home opener, at 4pm.
