Rome, Ga. - The Adelphi University women's tennis tandem of Nicole Kielan and Barbara Quagliardi concluded their time at the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia Friday evening, after falling to a pair from Columbus State in the semifinal round of the consolation bracket. 

The ITA Cup is the final stage before the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships. Formerly known as the Small College Nationals, the ITA Cup is the only singles and doubles national championship event for the Division II level. Each winner will be automatically entered in the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships where they will compete in the same tournament as the nation's top Division I players.

The pair, who played a competitive first round match against a duo out of Central Oklahoma, earned one victory this weekend, ousting a pair from Charleston on Thursday. 

Kielan and Quagliardi took on Paola Landin and Nikki Boyar from the University of Central Oklahoma in their first round at the ITA Cup, a team tabbed as the No. 2 seed in 16-team tournament. After dropping an opening set 6-0, the Panthers evened the match with a 6-3 decision, forcing a tiebreak. The pair of Bronchos came out strong however, and took the final set 10-4. 

Bumping into the consolation bracket after the loss, Adelphi paired up with Katie Sawnn and Harrini Balakrishnan from the University of Charleston. While it was Swann's third time competing in the ITAs, her partner Balakrishnan's was attending for the first time.

Quagliardi, who qualified for the ITA Cup a season ago at her previous institution, made her second appearance at the event this year as Kielan earned a chance to see what it was all about by virtue of an East Region ITA victory. The tandem dropped the Charleston pair 6-4, 6-2 to keep their run alive. 

The team's final contest in Rome featured Kristina Baran and Beatriz Lopez from Columbus State, who defeated Nina Furmaniak and Molly Helgesson of Saint Leo 6-4, 6-2 to continue on to Friday. In a match that featured several deuce points for the Panthers, Lopez/Baran came out victorious 7-6, 6-2, ending the Brown and Gold's run.

Quagliardi and Kielan will return north just in time for Northeast-10 playoffs, slated to begin this week. Earning a share of the regular season title, the Panthers await the remainder of the seeding which will be release Saturday afternoon after all matches are completed.