COLONIA, N.J. – After appearing in the last 13 ECC finals, Queens has been predicted to win the 2024 ECC Women’s Tennis Championship on their home court at the Queens College Tennis Center on Saturday, October 26, as voted on by the league’s six head coaches and announced on Monday afternoon. In the same vote, Queens graduate student Maja Makal (Bialystok, Poland) has been selected the 2024 ECC Preseason Player of the Year for the fourth straight year.
Queens, who went undefeated in conference play last fall, earned four first-place votes and 34 points to top the preseason poll. Led by ECC Co-Coach of the Year Alan Nagel, now entering his 46th season at the helm, the Knights return nine of 10 letterwinners from 2023-24, including their top five singles players in the All-ECC First Team trio of Makal (No. 2), Caroline Hany-Fawzy (No. 3), and Apolline Lamy (No. 4) and All-ECC Second Team pair of Eva Rivoal (No. 1) and Sara Berggren (No. 5). Queens is coming off of a historic season in which the Knights went 14-5 overall, earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Women’s Tennis East Region bracket, and reached the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Round of 16.
A four-time All-ECC First Team honoree, Makal went 5-0 in singles, with victories coming at No. 1 and No. 2, and went 3-2 at No. 1 doubles in regular-season conference play last fall. Overall, Makal turned in nine singles wins and 13 doubles wins. The two-time ECC Player of the Year and 2019 Rookie of the Year led the Knights to back-to-back ECC Championships in 2019 and 2020 and has been among the top-ranked singles and doubles players in the East Region for the last four years. Coming off of a season in which she was nationally ranked in both singles and doubles, Makal is poised for a memorable final campaign.
Back-to-back defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas earned two first-place votes and 31 points to place second in the preseason poll. STAC has appeared in the ECC Final three times in the last four years and defeated District of Columbia, 4-0, and Queens, 4-1, to earn its second straight ECC crown last fall. Led by returning All-ECC selections Elita Silins (First Team) and Elise Semmartin (Second Team), the Spartans see four letterwinners back from a season ago and will look to fill the gap left by the departure of two-time ECC Player of the Year Ebba Rosberg and All-ECC Second Team selection Samanta Villegas Robles. Led by ECC Co-Coach of the Year Daniel Rockhill, the Spartans went 16-7 overall, earned the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Women’s Tennis East Region bracket, and reached the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship Round of 16 last year.
District of Columbia comes in at No. 3 in the poll, accumulating 24 points. UDC has made the finals of the ECC Championship in three of the last five seasons and returns four players from a year ago, led by 2023 Rookie of the Year Polina Zelentsova. The trio of Zelentsova, Claudia Bahamon Lopez, and Célia Bastin will look to fill the gaps left by the graduation of Mariona Franco Martin and Laura Marie, a pair of 2023 All-ECC Second Team selections.
Led by 2023 All-ECC First Teamer Kitsa Scime, Daemen is the fourth and final team expected to make the postseason this fall.
2024 ECC Women's Tennis Preseason Poll
1. Queens (34 points, 4 first-place votes)
2023 Record – 14-5, 5-0 ECC
2. St. Thomas Aquinas (31 points, 2 first-place votes)
2023 Record – 16-7, 4-1 ECC
3. District of Columbia (24 points)
2023 Record – 13-7, 3-2 ECC
4. Daemen (18 points)
2023 Record – 7-12, 2-3 ECC
5. D'Youville (11 points)
2023 Record – 1-7, 1-4 ECC
6. Molloy (8 points)
2023 Record – 1-9, 0-5 ECC
2024 ECC Preseason Player of the Year: Maja Makal, Gr., Queens