The College of Staten Island women's tennis team will be making a return date to the City University of New York Athletic Conference Final in 2013.  The team avenged a postseason loss last year to the Hunter College Hawks with a 5-0 win this evening at the National Tennis Center in Flushing as part of semifinal play, catapulting the top seeds into the final.  CSi improved to 15-2 on the season, while the Hawks, who will see their 13-year reign as CUNYAC champions come to an end, finalized their season at 5-7.  CSI will take on No. 2 seed Brooklyn College on Saturday in the conference final, which carries with it an automatic entry into the NCAA Postseason Championship Tournament.

"I am very proud of our team," said CSI head coach Paul Ricciardi, whose team fell to the same Hawks team, 5-1, in last year's CUNYAC Championship.  "We played a very good match beginning with doubles and it carried over in singles.  We were very impressive."

Doubles got CSI started on the fast track to the win as CSI got a rare sweep.  The team of Sophia Varriano and Jean Baak were crisp, powering over the HC team of Stephanie Ahwireng and Abigail Rojas by an 8-1 count, prompting the match's first point.  A few beats later, CSI's Madiha Mulla and Nozima Toshpulatova stayed red-hot, staying undefeated as a tandem in CUNY play, scoring a well-earned, 8-4, win over Angelina Usherenko and Sara Beck.

The top flight was the last to finalize, but even there, the team of Sabrina Bragerton-Nasert and Ilona Stoyko were sharp, never falling behind while taking an 8-4 win over HC's top tandem of Shena Joseph and Janani Bavanadan.

With the Dolphins in full control, the team needed to win just two singles flights out of six to clinch victory, and they scored the wins quickly.  Bragerton-Nasert breezed through a 6-0, 6-0, win over Usherenko, and three courts over, at No. 6 Singles, Tosphpulatova was equally convincing with a 6-1, 6-1, triumph over Beck.

The two squads appeared to be splitting the other four flights, but once CSI scored their fifth point, play was suspended, giving CSI the 5-0 win.

The win sends CSI for a date with Brooklyn College on Saturday.  The Bulldogs, after falling behind, 2-1, after doubles to Baruch, rallied back to take a 5-2 win over the Bearcats to punch their ticket to the final.  CSI defeated Brooklyn during the regular season, 7-2, in a match that was much closer than the final score would indicate.

The Dolphins will be eyeing their first CUNYAC Postseason title since 1999, which ironically is also the last time a CUNYAC institution other than Hunter College won the championship.  A win would send CSI to the NCAA Postseason, a place where it has never been before.

Match time at the National Tennis Center on Saturday is set for 4:00pm.  Tickets are free for the match but need to be registered for at www.cunyathletics.com.