FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – For the first time since 2006, the Manhattanville College women's tennis team will be competing for a conference championship. The Valiants punched their ticket to the finals of the 2023 Skyline Conference Championship Tournament on Wednesday evening, upending No. 2 seeded Farmingdale by a final of 5-4. The win was the Valiants' first over the Rams since 2021, ending a four-match skid to Farmingdale with the team now one match away from completing one of the biggest turnarounds in school history.

After the Rams took two of the three doubles draws against Manhattanville in the teams' regular season bout, the Valiants knew the importance of heading into singles play with a lead. Farmingdale jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after the Valiant duo of Sara King (Schenectady, N.Y./Scotia-Glenville) and Elizabeth Dolce (Bronx, N.Y./Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy) were blanked 0-8 by Gabriella Loria and Mikayla DeMaria. However, the Valiants had a quick response of their own as the top pairing of Bea Pretnar (Mohegan Lake, N.Y.) and Keto Karkashadze (Tbilisi, Georgia/New School International) rolled to an 8-1 victory over Lien Collings and MacKenzie Gisler. From there, it was all eyes on Court No. 2 to see who would capture the pivotal final point up for grabs. After suffering their first loss ever as a tandem on these same courts just three weeks earlier, the Manhattanville rookie duo of Suzi Doyle (Devon, England/Exeter College) and Addison-Mercedes Ortiz (Bronx, N.Y./High School for Health Professions and Human Services) were able to leave the last meeting with the Rams behind them as the defeated Amanda Jones and Natalia Furchel 8-4 to put the Valiants ahead 2-1 heading into the singles action.

Farmingdale would retake the lead in the match by winning the No. 5 and No. 6 flights to begin solos. Dolce fell to Heather McGullam 4-6, 0-6 in the No. 6 matchup before King was bested by Loria, 1-6, 2-6, on Court 5. Pretnar would log the Valiants' first singles point as she knocked off Collings in the top flight, 6-1, 6-4. Manhattanville then took a 4-3 match lead following Ortiz' 6-1, 6-2 win over Jones in the No. 3 flight. With the Valiants just one point away from making their return to the championship finals, Gisler played spoiler for the home team by defeating Karkashadze, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the No. 4 matchup.

Tied at 4-4, the winner of the No. 2 matchup would lead their team into the finals. It would be a battle of the rookies serving as the determining factor as Doyle squared off against Furchel. The Rams' freshman got the upper hand to begin the draw, taking the first set 7-5. Doyle roared back to take the second 6-4, sending the match to a deciding third set. With the season hanging in the balance, Doyle rose to the occasion with the biggest win of her young career, taking the third set 6-1 and sending the Valiants to the weekend's finals.

Up Next
The second-seeded Valiants await their opponent in the Skyline Conference Finals, taking on the winner of No. 1 Saint Joseph's Long Island and No. 4 Yeshiva. A win by the top seed will send the finals down to Long Island on Saturday, while a Yeshiva win will see the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds competing at Manhattanville on Sunday.

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