QUEENS, N.Y.- The Queens College men's tennis team kicked off the 2021 campaign with a tough matchup as they went up against undefeated Division 1 neighbor St. John's University Red Storm at the STJ Tennis Courts on Tuesday afternoon. The Knights (0-1) ranked No. three in the latest East Region rankings released (Mar. 23) by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) fell to the scoreline of 6-0 against the Red Storm (8-0). The season opener loss saw Queens' six-game win streak come to an end. 

Doubles Competition
 
Playing on outside courts on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, the Knights number three doubles pair of senior Eduardo Marino (Sao Paulo, Brazil) / Sophomore Julius Schulte (Dusseldorf, Germany) fell first to the score of 6-3. The Red storm took the doubles points as Giuseppe De Camelis / Ignacio Garcia defeated the number one duo of junior Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) and Sophomore Mariano Bibiloni (La Plata, Argentina) by a 6-3 scoreline.
 
Slotted at the No. 2 doubles slot, the sophomore duo of Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) / Lucas Demuth (Buenos Aires, Argentina) match remained unfinished against Djuro Opacic / Evan Felcher with the Knights trailing 5-4. 
 
Singles Competition 
 
The singles play brought no luck for the Knights as Demuth and Rashad were unable to pick up points as they were defeated 6-0, 6-0 to Michel and Garcia. 
 
Borges fell 6-0, 6-1 to De Camelis as the Red Storm clinched the match. With the match decided, the Knights were giving the Red Storm a battle at the remaining matches. Playing in the No. 1 slot freshman Tim Ostheimer (Frankfurt, Germany) kept the fight going as he looked to pick up a point but eventually fell 6-3. 6-2 to Opacic. After falling to the first set score of 6-2, Bibiloni looked to win the second set but the experience of Felcher was too much for the Argentinian native at the No. 4 slot.
 
Slotted at No. 6 freshman Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina) won the first set 6-2 but his contest went down as unfinished with Gonzalez trailing 2-1 in the second set to Dylan Loru.
 
Knights Post-Match Comments
 
Head Coach Somadi Druker
"I would like to thank St. John's for giving us this opportunity to play our season opener against them. The boys had to overcome many challenges today as it was their first match back. Going up against a strong team like St. John's helps our team gain valuable experience which we can use to improve ourselves. Each match will help us grow stronger as the season goes on. I am very excited to see how the players will use today's experience to reach their full potential. There is still a lot of work to do especially as we look to make up for the lost time. Overall, it was amazing seeing the team back together, competing, and doing what they love."
 
Mariano Bibiloni
"Even though the result was not the best, it felt good to be competing again and we can improve a lot for the upcoming matches."
 
Tim Ostheimer
It feels very good to be back on the courts and to share it against a good team. Playing St. John's in our first match was not an easy task but I think we played well. I am looking forward to a successful season.

UP NEXT: Tennis returns to Flushing on Friday, Mar. 26 for the first time since the Knights defeated Chestnut Hill College on March 6, 2020. The Knights will face-off against Dominican College (NY) for the first time in program history. First serve slated for 1:00 p.m. 
 
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