The College of Staten Island women’s tennis run at a CUNYAC Championship ended in the semifinal round of play, as the Dolphins fell to No. 4 John Jay College by a 5-4 count at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows this afternoon.  The Dolphins fell to 8-4 overall and will pick up play this spring, while the Bloodhounds advanced to the CUNYAC Final for the first time in 13 years and will face No. 2 Brooklyn College on Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

The Dolphins defeated JJC in the regular season, 5-4, after taking a 2-1 lead after Doubles.  The Dolphins seemed on their way again, taking a 2-1 lead after Doubles thanks to wins at No. 2 and No. 3 flights.  First, it was Bernarda Reyes and Rageene Berry for the Bloodhounds prevailing in the top spot over CSI’s Viktoriya Volkova and Tristiana Adragna, 8-1.  But CSI got even one flight lower, where the duo of Samantha Maizer and Katherine Villarroel scored an 8-3 decision over Gabriela de Armas and Gabriella Schuck.

In the deciding match in Doubles, it came down to the No. 3 spot where Hannah Bruschi and Aziza Jurabaeva were able to survive an 8-6 decision over JJC’s Angelica Lozano and Clara Aylin Wilhelm.

Play then turned to Singles and CSI needed a split while JJC needed to win four flights.  The two teams swapped wins to start, as Bruschi was able to take No. 6 Singles over Aylin, 6-2, 6-0, while JJC got back a point when Berry defeated Volkova at No. 2, 6-1, 6-0.  The Bloodhounds got even when Reyes won in top flight over Maizer, 6-2, 6-2, and then it was even when deArmas took a 6-3, 6-4, competitive match with Adragna at No. 3.

The Dolphins got one of the wins it needed at No. 5, where Villarroel was able to score victory over Lorenzo, 6-2, 6-2.

That set all eyes on No. 4, where Jurabaeva was locked in a battle with Schuck.  By the time the other matches were over, Jurabaeva had won the first set 6-4, but then Schuck got even with a 6-2 win in the second set.  In the final set, Schuck was able to break serve early, and then stayed on serve and then broke another at the very end to win, 6-3, sending John Jay streaming onto the court in celebration.

The Dolphins finished the season at 8-4, earning a 5-1 record within the CUNYAC during the regular season, earning them the No. 1 seed in the tournament.  During the regular season, JJC defeated Brooklyn, 5-4, making for what should be an interesting Final.  Brooklyn defeated Baruch this evening by an identical, 5-4, decision, as well.