Despite a dominating performance by Adrienne Markison in both singles and doubles competition, the No. 2 Long Island Blackbirds were too much to handle in the semifinal match of the NEC Tournament, as the Bobcats lost 4-1.

After an impressive overall performance against No. 6 Saint Francis (Pa.), 5-0, in the quarterfinals, the Bobcats looked poised to win and reach the conference finals for the 10th straight year. However, the Blackbirds had other ideas.

Markinson and Mary Wilson won the first doubles match 8-4, but the two other Bobcat pairings couldn’t help nab the doubles point. Bobcat duo senior Shawna Sarson and sophomore Natalie Duckor fought a tight battle against Dara Lahens and Stephanie Elie, but lost 9-8.

In singles competition, the Bobcats fell behind as Long Island’s Babic won the first match against Wilson 6-1, 6-4. Matches two and six went unfinished but saw the Bobcats winning the first set in both contests. Rachel Cantor won the first set 6-4 against Linn Sjorgen, before tying in the second set 4-4. Lisanne Steinert was also 6-4 in the first set of her match against Elie, and was 3-1 in the second set.

Markinson made her mark in her match against Aleksandra Pavlovic, winning handily, 6-1, 6-1.

However, Long Island secured the win in matches four and five, as the Blackbirds’ Taysha Blessington defeated Sarah Viebrock 6-2, 6-4, and H’Ann Johnson won against Duckor 6-1, 6-4.

With the loss, the Bobcats end their season at 9-8.