Three UDC Firebirds Earn East Coast Conference Women’s Tennis All-Conference Honors

WEST BABYLON, New York – Sophomore Simoné Pärn was named First Team All-Conference, and junior Marija Milic and freshman Joanna Skrzypczynska each earned Second Team All-Conference to represent the University of the District of Columbia for the East Coast Conference Women's Tennis All-Conference teams.

Pärn finished the regular season with overall records of 11-2 in singles play and 10-3 in doubles competition. In dual match No. 1 singles play, she earned a 10-1 mark, including a 6-1 record in ECC play. She teamed with Milic at No. 1 doubles all season, earning marks of 9-2 in dual matches and 5-2 vs. the ECC.

The Estonia native earned impressive singles and doubles wins in the Firebirds' early regular season meeting at Queens College on September 8th. That day, she defeated fellow ECC First Team honoree Reehan Rashad, 4-6, 6-0, 6-3, and she and Milic defeated Rashad and another ECC First Teamer, Luisa Auffarth, 7-6 (6).

Her only dual match singles loss came at the hands of this year's ECC Player and Rookie of the Year, Barbara Quagliardi of New York Institute of Technology. Quagliardi bested Pärn, 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 on October 19th; however, Pärn would hand Quagliardi her only Division II singles loss of the season, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, when the two met again in the ECC semifinals on Saturday, October 27th.

Milic, a junior transfer from Oakland University, had a very impressive Fall 2018 in her first season as a Firebird. She finished the regular season with overall records of 9-4 in singles play and 10-3 in doubles competition. In dual match No. 2 singles play, she earned an 8-3 mark, including a 5-2 record in ECC play. She teamed with Pärn at No. 1 doubles all season, earning marks of 9-2 in dual matches and 5-2 vs. the ECC.

Skrzypczynska had a remarkable rookie season for the Firebirds. Riding a nine-match singles win streak into the Firebirds' ECC semifinal match vs. NYIT, the Poland native finished the regular season 11-2 overall in both singles and doubles play. In dual matches at No. 3 singles, she was 10-1, including a 6-1 mark vs. the ECC. At doubles, she teamed with sophomore Anastasiia Danylova at No. 2 for a record of 9-1 (also went 1-0 at No. 2 doubles teaming with junior Estefania Castrillon) in dual matches, and individually, she was 6-1 vs. the ECC in doubles play.

These three ECC All-Conference honorees helped the Firebirds finish the regular season 9-2 and earn a No. 3 seed in the ECC Championship Tournament. There, UDC nearly knocked off the eventual champion, NYIT, in the semifinal round, but bowed out in a 4-3 defeat.

The Firebirds will resume dual match play in the spring as they look to earn an at-large bid in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

UNIVERSITY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS