MIDDLEBURY, Conn. -- On the verge of locking up the final spot in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Women's Tennis Tournament, Post University Women's Tennis had a chance to eliminate Dominican (N.Y.) from playoff contention as well as win the season series on Friday afternoon against the Chargers but would ultimately come up short, 4-3, at the Edgewood Bath and Tennis Club in Middlebury, Connecticut. 

A win would have brought the Eagles within a Goldey-Beacom College loss of at least the fourth seed in the CACC Tournament later this month. 

THE BASICS
Post University 3, Dominican (N.Y) 4 

Post University (6-6, 3-4 CACC)

Dominican (N.Y.) (1-5, 1-5 CACC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Without graduate student Annunciata De-Souza in the lineup, the Eagles would shuffle around their three doubles pairings leading to sophomores Micaela Rosignuolo and Natalia Gonzalez Ramos competing in the #1 Doubles which they would drop 6-3, to seniors Bipasha Mehn and Selina Donecker. Another new pairing in juniors Megan Lombardt and Nina Langenfeld would team up in the #2 Doubles, falling 6-2, against juniors Angelina Amelkina and Lia Sarjveladze to give the Chargers the doubles point.

Teaming up for the third  time this season in the #3 Doubles, graduate student Julia D'Occhio and senior Oceane Mallevre would win 6-3 over junior Preeti Koli and sophomore Vanya Tyagi. 

Needing four wins to get the victory, the Eagles would claw and fight before just falling short as Mallevre defeated Donecker in the #3 Singles, 6-2 and 6-1, while Langenfeld took care of business in the #4 Singles agaisnt Tyagi, 6-0 and 6-2 to give Post University the team lead, 2-1 overall.

But following a quick five-minute suspension of play due to a light rain shower that briefly moved through the area, the Chargers would be on the precipice of victory with back-to-back wins of their own in the #1 and #2 Singles with Mehn beating Rosignuolo, 7-6 and 6-4, then Amelkina winnings 7-5 and 6-3 against Lombardt, respectively. 

Battling a lower back issue for much of her match, Gonzalez Ramos would drop set one, 6-3, against Koli in the #5 Singles before fighting back for set wins of 6-1 and 6-4 to set up a winner-takes-all #6 Singles which featured D'Occhio and Sajveladze. 

After being dominated in set one, 6-3, all eyes were on court three for the secodn set in which D'Occhio would eventually hold a 5-4 lead after trailing for the first half of it. However, Sajveladze would rally for three unanswered points to earn the 7-5 second set victory and the decisive fourth team win for Dominican who left Middlebury with a 4-3 win. 

BY THE NUMBERS

• As a duo this season, Julia D'Occhio and Oceane Mallevre are now 3-0 in the #3 Doubles 
• Nina Langenfeld has now won three consecutive singles matches after losing her previous three
• Post University has now lost five of their last six games played including four of their last five conference matches  
• This was Post University's first loss in the all-time series history against Dominican (N.Y.) as they were previously 5-0 against the Chargers entering the day 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University hits the road for two games, starting out with a Monday afternoon matchup against University of New Haven, a matchup that was rescheduled from September 24th due to rain. In the all-time series, the Eagles are 3-3 against the Chargers, losing their last three matchups against them since 2018-19.