The College of Staten Island women’s tennis team debuted their 2017 installment on a beautiful day at the CSI Tennis Center, and the Dolphins scored a 6-3 decision over CUNYAC-rivals Hunter College this afternoon to open their season on a positive note. CSI is now 1-0 both overall and in the CUNYAC, while Hunter opens 0-1, 0-1, respectively.
It looked like it would be a match that came right down to the wire judging from the opening of doubled play that saw three spirited matches. At the No. 2 spot, CSI scored a win, as sophomore Samantha Maizer, who missed all of 2016, teamed up with fellow sophomore Katherine Villarroel, who debuted just this past spring and is working into her first fall semester with the team. They were able to move past the Hunter team of Catherine Ng and Ksenia Zevyakina, 8-2.
Hunter got even, however, at the top spot. There, Hunter ace from a season ago, Maria Kogarova, paired with Angelica Rozenfield, to knock off CSI’s team of Tristiana Adgrana and Mariah DeGuia, 8-5. In a very important match at No. 3, it was the CSI team of Guetanie Romain and Aziza Jurabaeva that gave CSI a nice lift going into singles, scoring a well-earned, 8-4, win over Crystal Klein and Tabitha Doris.
In singles, both teams were very evenly matched and it showed in the results. Hunter got themselves a big win at the top spot with Koragova over Adragna, 6-2, 6-1, but then CSI battled back. It was Maizer again at No. 2 that provided a nice jump with a 6-2, 6-4 win, and shortly after, Jurabaeva, at No. 3, after losing her first set 6-4, came roaring back to score identical 6-1, 6-1, wins over Zevyakina to make it 4-2 overall.
Down at the No. 6 position, Romain lost her first set as well, 6-1, but she pieced long volleys together and got the better of Doris, 6-4, 6-4, to clinch the game for CSI. With the match already decided, Villarroel, was able to score a 7-6, 7-5, win over Rozenfield, before Hunter finalized with a 7-6, 7-6, marathon win over Deguia.
CSI will now be idle until Friday, September 15, when they travel to face York College at 4pm, in Jamaica, NY.
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