The College of Staten Island Women's Tennis unit was spotted a three-point lead to start play today, but St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn proved too strong the rest of the way, as they sailed by CSI today in Staten Island, 6-3.  The loss dipped the Dolphins to 0-2 to start the 2019 season, while the Bears leveled to 2-2 overall.

Injuries left the Bears two players short today upon entering the CSI Tennis Center, and so SJC were forced to forfeit points at No. 3 Doubles and Nos. 5-6 Singles.  That immediately gave CSI a 3-0 edge to start the match, but after some hard-fought flights, that was all the Dolphins had to show for it.

Play started with Doubles and there, the top-flight team of Daniella Alva and Katie Estes were able to slide by CSI's top duo of Hannah Bruschi and Lorianna Fernandez by a 6-3 score.  One flight lower, the play was heated, but the Bears team of Raquel Ramirez and Valentina Velez were able to break service and take a 6-4 winner over CSI's Jasmine Shaikh and Mariah DeGuia.  That narrowed the overall score to 3-2.

Play then moved to Singles, and the Bears were able to score a big win first at No. 4, where Ramirez scored a 6-2, 6-1, decision of Shaikh, to tie things up at 3-3.  Shortly after, it was Velez at the No. 3 spot who took a 6-4, 6-2, winner over DeGuia, to wrestle away control.  Needing just one more flight to win, Alva did the honors with a 6-4, 6-4, win over Fernandez at No. 2.  For extra measure, and in the tightest match of the day, Estes was just able to narrowly edge Bruschi in the top flight.  Estes took a hard-fought first set, 7-5, but Bruschi cruised in set number two, 6-0.  In a winner-take-all 10-point third set tiebreak, Estes took a 10-8 win to lift the Bears to the 6-3 final.

CSI will now look to rebound on Monday, when they travel to face York College for a showdown with the Cardinals at 3:30 pm.