Video of final point (Twitter link)

FLUSHING, N.Y. (May 10, 2021) -- The first NCAA Championship win in program history did not come easy, but it did, eventually, come. Four singles matches went three sets, including one which carried all the way to a third-set tiebreak, and the proceedings lasted nearly 3.5 hours, but the No. 48 nationally ranked Franklin Pierce University women's tennis team ultimately prevailed in the opening round of the East Regional. As she had in the Northeast-10 Conference title match, graduate student Estela Carra (Logrono, Spain) provided the decisive point for the second-seeded Ravens, as she took a three-set win at fifth singles to finish off a 4-3 win over third seed, host and No. 42 Queens (N.Y.).

With the win, Franklin Pierce keeps its perfect season alive at 13-0, while Queens sees its campaign come to a close at 3-2. The Ravens advance to Tuesday's 1 p.m. regional final, where they will meet fourth-seeded Stonehill, which won its own 4-3 epic, over top-seeded and No. 28 Concordia (N.Y.), after the Ravens and Knights finished their duel. As a result, the East Region title contest will be a rematch of the NE10 final.

It was a roller coaster of an afternoon at the Queens College Athletic Complex and, as such, was not for the faint of heart. As the day began to work towards its crescendo, the roller coaster crested its final hill and the path to the finish came into view, though the destination was still undecided. The first-to-four-points match was level at 2-2, and all three remaining matches were in the third set. Carra appeared to have fifth singles well in-hand, but at the same time, fourth singles was slipping away from sophomore Laura Alvarez Tello (Vigo, Spain). As the third singles match between sophomore Liria Loria (La Paz, Bolivia) and Queens senior Lovisa Engstrand stayed tight late in the third set, it became clear the outcome of the team match hung in the balance.

If that was not already dramatic enough to send viewers reaching for the antacids, the match went all the way to a third-set tiebreak. A race to seven points would effectively decide if the Ravens or Knights would advance. Loria jumped out to a 2-0 lead, then Engstrand evened at 2-2. Loria went up 3-2, Engstrand answered for 3-3. Loria went up 4-3, Engstrand responded for 4-4. Loria took the next two, to bring things to the brink at 6-4, but Engstrand cut it to 6-5. After a rally at 6-5, an Engstrand shot went long, and Loria had pulled out the 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory.

The win technically knotted the team match at 3-3, but from there it was only a matter of time. By the time the teams had made their way over to Court 5, Carra was just one game away from finishing off sophomore Aleksandra Caricic. Finish her off she did, as Caricic's final shot of the day fell wide, Carra posted a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-2 win and met her teammates in celebration (video).

Earlier in the day, Franklin Pierce had taken the doubles point with wins in two of the three doubles contests. First doubles wrapped first, as Loria and graduate student Himani Mor (Sonipat, India) built a lead, watched it slip back to an on-serve contest, but then tallied a late break to post a 6-4 win over Engstrand and sophomore Maja Makal. Queens answered at third doubles, where Caricic and sophomore Gabriela Sciarotta upended Carra and freshman Zoe Asterio Correa (Toronto, Ontario), 6-4.

The Ravens took care of business at second doubles to wrap up the point. Up a break and serving for the match, things ran all the way to deuce. A volley at the net from Alvarez Tello prompted a lob from Queens which went long (video), and Alvarez Tello and freshman Maria Penalver Aguilo (Las Palmas, Spain) chalked up a 6-3 win over junior Nathalie Ulander and sophomore Lilly Schmidt.

First and second singles went to Queens in fairly undramatic fashion, as the Knights jumped to a 2-1 lead. At first singles, Makal dispatched Penalver Aguilo, 6-2, 6-4. At second singles, it was a 6-4, 6-3 win for Ulander over Mor.

The remainder of the singles contests would be decidedly more interesting.

At sixth singles, Asterio Correa got lost in her own head and dropped the first set, 6-2, which surely spiked the heart rate of her coaches. The freshman settled in from there though, quickly forgot the first-set missteps and jumped out to 3-0 and 4-1 leads in the second set over Schmidt. Schmidt unraveled from there, and Asterio Correa cruised to a 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory to level the team match at 2-2.

Meanwhile, Alvarez Tello and Carra had taken the first set at fourth and fifth singles, respectively. However, both suffered tiebreak losses in the second set, though Alvarez Tello's tiebreak loss came with some controversy and disagreement. It all conspired to set the stage for the theatrics from Loria and Engstrand on Court 3. Alvarez Tello went on to suffer a 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 defeat to Sciarotta, but the result was rendered moot when both Loria and Carra prevailed and saw the Ravens through to the regional final.