SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's tennis team came up four points short in its quest to qualify for the Liberty League Tournament for the first time in program history, as the Dutchwomen dropped a heartbreaking 5-4 match to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Liberty League action on Saturday afternoon at the Union Tennis Courts.
 
Going into the day knowing that the winner would make the postseason and the loser would not, Union (2-4, 2-4 Liberty League) put forth an incredible effort and almost completed a comeback from 4-1 down to reach the postseason. Junior Dana D'Onofrio and sophomore Sophie Brown led the Dutchwomen on the day, combining for three victories.
 
Playing its third conference match of the year after dropping the first two, Rensselaer (1-2, 1-2 Liberty League) jumped out to an early lead with two doubles wins. D'Onofrio and Brown temporarily evened the match with an 8-6 victory at the second flight, while sophomores Hallie Katzman and Rayna Katzman came one break short of giving Union the lead, falling 8-6 at third doubles.
 
The Engineers quickly took the second and sixth singles matches to take a 4-1 lead, but Union battled back. First-year Gracie Nicol rebounded from a first-set loss to dominate the final two sets of her third-singles match with Krisia Flores Gonzalez, winning by a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 score. Brown followed with her second win of the afternoon, putting a double bagel on Natalie Cipriano in a 6-0, 6-0 victory.
 
With D'Onofrio comfortably ahead in her eventual 6-3, 6-2 win over Vidhya Maran at sixth singles, the match came down to the first flight. After senior Megan Brown dropped the first set to Rani Jones by a 6-1 score, she roared back to take the second, 6-3. The evenly contested match eventually came down to a third-set tiebreaker, with Jones squeaking out a 7-3 win to capture the match and the win for RPI.
 
The Dutchwomen and Engineers will meet tomorrow in a non-conference contest in Troy, as Union looks to wrap up the 2020-21 season with a win.