PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's tennis team looks to complete a remarkable one-year turnaround as the Valiants compete for the Skyline Conference Championship today for the first time since 2006. The third-seeded Valiants match up against the top-seeded Golden Eagles of Saint Joseph's University Long Island today at 5 p.m. with a title on the line.
  How We Got Here
The storybook year for Manhattanville women's tennis continued last week as the Valiants put an end to a four-match losing streak against Farmingdale State in the Skyline Semifinals, defeating the Rams by a final of 5-4. Just a year removed from their 0-10 finish, the Valiants earned a spot in the Conference Championship Finals following a thrilling win in Farmingdale. The Valiants took two of the three doubles draws to take a crucial 2-1 lead, with the No. 1 team of Bea Pretnar (Mohegan Lake, N.Y.) and Keto Karkashadze (Tbilisi, Georgia/New School International) earning an 8-1 victory while rookie phenoms Suzi Doyle (Devon, England/Exeter College) and Addison-Mercedes Ortiz (Bronx, N.Y./High School for Health Professions and Human Services) took care of business in the No. 2, 6-4. Pretnar, Doyle and Ortiz each won their matchups across the tope three singles flights to earn the win, with Doyle serving as the deciding victory with her three-set win in No. 2s.

Saint Joseph's, meanwhile, picked up right where they left off after a perfect 6-0 regular season against the Skyline Conference by earning a 5-0 win over No. 4 Yeshiva in last week's semifinals matchup. Natalie Kopala and Angela Avecillas Martinez logged an 8-0 win in No. 1 Doubles, while the teams of Madi Beatty / Victoria Corcoran and Haley Celona / Madison DiPalo completed the sweeps of doubles. From there, Kopala logged the victory in No. 1 Singles while DiPalo wrapped up the No. 5 flight to send the Golden Eagles to their second-straight Skyline Finals.

Last Time Out
Saint Joseph's in the regular season did not surrender more than three points against a Skyline opponent, although the Valiants will have a different look to them than the last time the team made the trip down to Patchogue. The Golden Eagles logged a 7-2 win over the Valiants back on Oct. 15, but Manhattanville was shorthanded after illness prevented the full team from traveling. Ortiz and Doyle were able to earn an 8-6 doubles win over Kopala and Morgan Wind in the team's No. 1 Doubles debut, while Ortiz bested Avecillas Maritnez in the No. 2 singles showdown, but the Valiants' defaulting on No. 3 Doubles and No. 6 Singles was too much to overcome. Now back to full strength, the team will look to avenge the loss from earlier in the month and win their first Conference Championship in 17 years.

Team Leaders
Manhattanville

• Pretnar: 8-1 Singles, 8-1 Doubles
• Ortiz: 10-0 Singles, 9-1 Doubles
• Doyle: 9-1 Singles, 9-1 Doubles
• Karkashadze: 5-4 Singles, 8-1 Doubles

Saint Joseph's Long Island

• DiPalo: 9-1 Singles, 6-1 Doubles
• Celona: 9-1 Singles, 5-0 Doubles
• Kopala: 8-3 Singles, 4-5 Doubles
• Corcoran: 7-2 Singles, 7-2 Doubles

History

• All-Time Record vs Saint Joseph's Long Island: 12-4
• Streak: Saint Joseph's W2
• Series Record at Saint Joseph's: 6-2
• Last Five Meetings:
  • 10/15/23: Manhattanville 2, SJLI 7
  • 9/16/22: SJLI 9, Manhattanville 0
  • 9/21/21: Manhattanville 5, SJLI 4
  • 4/12/21: SJLI 6, Manhattanville 3
  • 10/2/19: Manhattanville 1, SJLI 8

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