BACK-TO-BACK EAST REGIONAL CHAMPIONS! Makal's Determination Leads Women’s Tennis to Thrilling 4-3 Victory over Wilmington

WILMINGTON, DE – Appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the 23rd time in program history, the nationally-ranked #36/#2 Queens College women's tennis team matched up against #25/#3 Wilmington University Wildcats at Delcastle Tennis Center.   In a #2 vs. #3 matchup, and both sides matching up against each other for the second time this year, it would be a match that would last four hours and 19 minutes to decide the second team to advance out of the east region to Altamonte Springs, FL.   With the match tied at 3-3, senior Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland) would use every ounce of energy she had left as she overcame three match points in the deciding set as she trailed 5-3 to earn a thrilling back and fourth third set to the final score of 7-6 (7-3) to help the Knights defeat the #25 country in the team to the final score of 4-3 and clinch their second straight trip to the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship in Florida.   Queens improves their overall record to 10-5 on the year. DOUBLES ACTION It would be a back-and-forth battle at all three courts as all three Knights pair battled to keep their season alive and give Queens an early 1-0 lead into singles play.   The Knights #3 pair of graduate student Kyra Bergmann (Forest Hills, N.Y.) and junior Marie Bertran (Villelaure, France) battled back for a 3-0 deficit to earn a 6-4 victory over Maria Ines Oliveira and Gloria Barcaro to put the Knights up 1-0.   The #2 pair of graduate student Eva Rivoal (Saint-Denis-de-Pile, France) and junior Apolline Lamy (Toulouse, France) earned a thrilling 7-5 victory over Yelyzaveta Sykla and Siana MacDonald as Queens took a 1-0 lead into singles play.   The #1 match between senior duo of Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland) and Saga Berggren (Uddevalla, Sweden) vs. Molly Carlberg and Ming Fu Chen went unfinished at 5-5. SINGLES ACTION The Knights began the singles play with a 1-0 lead as they looked for three more victories to clinch their second straight to the championship round.   But the Wildcats would take the first point of the singles play as junior Regina Ruiz (Mexico City, Mexico) fell against Kushi Khandoji to the score of 3-6, 2-6 at the #6 court.   The Knights rallied behind Lamy at #4 court as she put Queens up 2-1 with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Oliveira.   Just as Lamy put Queens up 2-1, senior Caroline Hany-Fawzy (Alexandria, Egypt) fell at #3 singles against Carlberg to the score of 3-6, 2-6 to tie the match at 2-2.   The Wildcats took a 3-2 lead as Berggren fell at #5 singles against Chen in a three-set battle to the score of 4-6, 6-0, 4-6.   Rivoal would tie the match at 3-3 as the senior earned a thrilling three-set victory to the score of 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1 to bring all the attention to the final match at #1 singles.   Makal and Sylka would battle back and forth as the senior dropped the first set to the score of 6-7 (6-8), before earning a 6-3 victory to force the decisive third set. Down 5-3, Makal battled back to keep the match alive to earn her fourth point of the set at 5-4.   As both players switched sides and with Sylka leading the match at 5-4, Makal would trail the first game before winning the next four games to tie the match at 5-5.   But it would be a match that would down to the wire as Sylka forced the match and the second set against Makal to be decided a tiebreaker. Makal dropped the first two points before she rallied to take three of the next four points. With the tiebreaker tied at 3-3, the senior would ensure her final match in the East Region would be a winning one as Makal earned four straight games to earn a 7-3 third tiebreaker and advance Queens to their second straight Women's Tennis Championship Final. NEXT MATCH The Knights have clinched their second straight appearance to the Women's Tennis Championship Bracket in Altamonte Springs, FL at Sanlando Park from Tuesday, May 20 – Saturday, May 24. More details to follow soon. For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook (Queens College Athletics), Twitter (@QCKnights), and Instagram (qcknightsny), Women's Tennis (qcwtennis).
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