FLUSHING N.Y.- Playing inside the friendly confines of the QC Tennis Courts for the first time since March 26, the Queens College men's tennis team went 2-0 in East Coast Conference (ECC) play Sunday afternoon.
The Knights played their second doubleheader of the year as they welcomed the Daemen College Wildcats and St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans to Flushing. In game one, the Knights swept the Wildcats 7-0 to complete the series (3-0) sweep before defeating the Spartans 6-1 in the nightcap.
Queens improved to 5-4 overall, 4-0 in ECC play. While Daemen moved to 1-5 overall, 0-4 in ECC, the Spartans were given their first loss of the year, moving to 2-1 overall, 1-1 in ECC action.
Game One: Queens 7, Daemen 0
The Knights took the doubles points as the No. 2 duo of sophomore
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) /freshman
Tim Ostheimer (Frankfurt, Germany) defeated Phillip Vance / Jose Williamon III to the score of 6-4. Playing their first doubles competition of the year, the No. 3 duo of freshman Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina) / senior
Hugo Evangelista de Andrade (Goiania, Brazil) picked up the doubles point as they defeated Marcos Lerma Escobar / Ross Belen 6-1.
While the Knights No.1 pair of junior
Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) and Sophomore
Mariano Bibiloni (La Plata, Argentina) fell to the scoreline of 6-4 to Ben Davis / Sam Greco.
The Knights swept singles play as Rashad defeated Davis 6-3, 7-5 at the No. 1 spot. At the No. 2 spot, Bibiloni defeated Vance to the score of 6-2, 6-1. Slotted at the No. 3 spot,
Eduardo Marino (Sao Paulo, Brazil) picked up his second singles victory of the season as he defeated Williamson III 6-4, 6-2 to clinch the match. Evangelista continued his undefeated streak in singles play as he picked up a 6-4, 6-1 victory at No. 4 slot over Greco.
The Knights would complete the series sweep at No. 5 and 6 slots as
Julius Schulte (Dusseldorf, Germany) was victorious over Belen to the scoreline of 6-0, 6-3 before Gonzalez shut out Escobar 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 6 spot.
Game Two: Queens 6, STAC 1
In the nightcap, the Knights swept doubles play as the No. 1 duo of Rashad / Bibiloni defeated Kas Roosch / Ivan Laiz to the score of 6-1. The No. 2 duo of Borges / Schulte would clinch the doubles point as they defeated Lennart Lehmann / Enej Hasicevic 6-1 before the No. 3 duo of Marino / freshman
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) picked up a 6-2 win over Alvaro Barranco / Matthew Corsie.
The Knights nearly swept their second match of the day as they picked up five singles win as the Spartans picked up the lone win at the No. 2 spot.
Borges gave the Knights a 2-0 lead as he defeated Laiz 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot. Rashad fought hard at the No. 1 spot as both sets went to the tie-breaker but the ECC preseason Player of the Year showed his experience as he won 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-1) over Roosch to give the Knights a 3-0 lead.
The Knights would clinch the match as Shehawey came back from a first-set loss to defeat Barranco 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 3 slot. Gonzalez narrowly missed his second shutout victory of the day at the No. 6 slot as he defeated Corsie 6-0, 6-1 as the Knights went up 5-0.
Slotted at the No. 5 slot, Marino fought back to win 6-2, 1-6, (10-7) over Hasicevic as Queens were headed towards their second sweep of the day.
Bibiloni playing in the No. 2 spot trailed 6-4 after dropping the first set but won the second set 6-4 to take the match into the third set. But he was defeated 7-5 in a closely-contested third set as Lehmann gave the Spartans their lone win of the day.
UP NEXT: The Knights take a break from conference play as they travel to Philadelphia, PA to take on the Chestnut Hill Griffins in non-conference action. First serve is slated for 2:30 p.m. start time.
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