FLUSHING, N.Y. – After jumping 11 spots to earn the #34 spot in the ITA national rankings, the Queens College men's tennis team finished off the regular season in grand fashion sweeping the Daemen University Wildcats 7-0 in East Coast Conference action Saturday afternoon inside the QC Tennis Bubble.
With the win, the Knights improved to 15-7 overall, 6-0 in ECC play, while the Wildcats moved to 3-16 overall, 0-6 in conference action.
For the third straight season, head coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights clinched the ECC regular-season championship crown and seventh overall since the 2010 season and the #1 seed in the Conference tournament.
Since taking charge, the Knights have won four regular-season championships and extended their ECC win streak to 17 games dating back to the 2019 season.
Prior to the match, Druker, along with Athletic Director
Rob Twible and Associate Athletic Director
Jay Bijlani honored graduating seniors in
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany), Hugo Evangelista de Andrade (Goiania, Brazil),and
Julius Schulte (Dusseldorf, Germany) in their dedications to the men's tennis program.
Doubles Competition
The Knights took an early 1-0 lead as the #1 doubles duo of sophomore
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) / Borges defeated Luis de Vuyst/Ross Belen to the score of 6-2.
Queens would clinch the match at #2 doubles as the pair of junior
Lucas Demuth (Buenos Aires, Argentina) / Schulte swept Jayven Williamson/Jack Paute Urdiales to the score of 6-0.
The #2 doubles pair of junior
Mariano Bibiloni (La Plata, Argentina ) / sophomore
Tim Ostheimer (Frankfurt, Germany) completed the sweep with a 6-3 victory over Zachary LaPlante/Phillip Vance.
Singles Competition
Queens would take a 2-0 lead as sophomore
Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina ) quickly dispatched Urdiales to the score of 6-0, 6-0.
Freshman
Philipp Uhde (Heidelberg, Germany) would put the Knights up 3-0 as he swept Williamson to the score of 6-0, 6-0 at #5 singles.
Andrade would clinch the match for the Knight at #4 singles with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Belen.
Borges would continue the road to a sweep with a 6-2, 6-3 sweep at #3 singles as he finished conference play undefeated with a 6-0 record as he defeated LaPlante.
Bibiloni put the Knights up 6-0 as he defeated Vance to the score of 6-4, 6-1 at #2 singles.
Junior
Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) would complete the 7-0 sweep as he finished undefeated at #1 singles in ECC play with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 victory over Vuyst.
UP NEXT: Head Coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights now shift their attention to the East Coast Conference tournament set to start Friday (Apr. 29) afternoon. More details to follow later this week.
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