Flushing, N.Y. - The reigning NE10 Player of the Week Barbie Quagliardi and two-time NE10 Rookie of the Week Caterina Federici continued their torrid start to the 2021 season this weekend at the annual ITA East Region Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing.

Entering ITA play on a three-match winning streak, the team's top-doubles pairing of Quagliardi and Federici earned the No. 2 seed in the doubles draw.

With the shadow of the world-renowned Arthur Ashe Stadium towering over, Quagliardi and Federici made it to the semifinals, where they bowed out to the No. 3 seed and eventual champion -- Franklin Pierce's Himani Mor and Anais Geslin -- by an 8-5 final.

Quagliardi and Federici started out their ITA run with a hard-fought 8-5 decision over Franklin Pierce's Estela Carra and Liria Loria, and proceeded to lose only a combined two games over the ensuing two matches. That included a dominant 8-2 showing against STAC's Karina Blas and Vera Gak Anagrova, who came in as the No. 8 seed.

In singles, Louisa Junghanns went the distance to take her opening match from Karim Carreras (3-6, 7-6, 10-7), before falling in three sets the following round to SNHU's Alexxa Etienne, 6-4, 1-6, 10-4.

Carolina Chaves, despite a tough 9-7 loss with Julia Kielan in doubles, claimed victory in her ITA singles debut against Dominican's Isha Mbaye, 6-2, 6-1.

The Panthers will now return to NE10 play this weekend in Manchester, N.H. against Southern New Hampshire University on Saturday (Sept. 25) at 1 p.m.