Firebirds Fall Short in Season-Opening Battle with the Bears
OLD WESTBURY, NY – The University of the District of Columbia women's tennis team managed to earn one doubles and two singles wins in a 6-3 season-opening loss vs. the three-time reigning East Coast Conference champion, NYIT on Friday afternoon on the Bears' newly re-surfaced tennis courts.
Senior Laura Rojas (Civil Engineering – Bogota, Columbia/Jackson State University) emerged with victories at No. 6 singles and with partner Laura Dimante (Business Management – Riga, Latvia/Rigas Teikas) at No. 3 doubles to highlight an impressive first match of the season for District of Columbia. The Firebirds (0-1) had previously been swept by the perennial powerhouse NYIT in the last four consecutive meetings dating back to 2012.
Also coming away victorious for the Firebirds at the No. 3 singles slot was returning First Team All-ECC selection, senior Peerada Looareesuwan (Computer Science – Bangkok, Thailand/Valdosta State), who defeated Justyna Krol, 6-3, 6-3.
Freshman Zoé Mall was very close to forcing a 5-4 match verdict as she nearly defeated NYIT's Paulina Velasquez in the final decision of the afternoon at the No. 4 slot. In her collegiate debut, Mall won the first set 7-5, but fell in the 2nd set, 5-7 and ultimately Velasquez won the tiebreaker 10-4.
The Firebirds are back in action tomorrow afternoon as they travel down the street from NYIT to take on another ECC foe, LIU Post. The match is slated to begin at 12 p.m.