Firebirds Fight until last point, suffers Tough Loss to Queens in ECC Championship Final

Flushing, N.Y- The University of the District of Columbia's women's tennis team duked it out to the finish in a tough loss against Queen's College in the ECC Championship finals, on Saturday afternoon at Queens campus.  

After losing the doubles point with tough losses at No.1 and 2, the Firebirds would have to win four matches in the singles to take home the Championship title. First finishers in the singles round came at No.1 and 6, both of which were in the Knights favor.

With the score now 3-0, the pressure was on for the Firebirds. Their first win would come from Izabella Bilecova who defeated Ruth Artaza Martin 6-1, 6-4 at No.5 to put UDC on the board. Marija Milic then came through with a major win defeating Maja Makal 6-4, 6-3 at No.2 and avenging a 6-1,6-4 loss that came less than a week ago. Milic also handed Makal her first loss in ECC play this season. 

Joanna Skrzypczynska won her match at No.3 defeating Louisa Brunetti 6-3,6-4 and bringing the score to a tie 3-3 with the Championship point falling on the outcome of No.4. It was a tough match with Sofia Belluco falling to Gabriella Sciarotta 6-1 in the first set but coming back to win the second set 6-2. With everything now on the line it came down to the last point. Sciarotta was able to bring it home for the Knights defeating Bellucco 6-3 and bringing the final score to 4-3.

"The team fought hard; left it all on the court. As hard as this loss is for us, I'm very proud of this team and what we've accomplished," said Coach Mahaffey.

Despite the tough loss to Queens the Firebirds have had a fantastic season, finishing with a record of 11-2, 5-2 ECC. They boast five All-ECC honorees, an Elite 19 award recipient and a Coach of the year honor. 

The Firebirds will be back in the spring with hopes of clinching an NCAA tournament bid.