FLUSHING, N.Y. – East Coast Conference play resumed Friday afternoon as the nationally ranked #59 Queens College men's tennis team welcomed the visiting nationally ranked #53 St. Thomas Aquinas College Spartans to the Queens College Tennis Bubble.
The Knights used a big doubles competition victory before winning four singles matches to defeat the Spartans 5-2 to stay undefeated in ECC play.
With the win, the Knights improved to 11-6 overall, 4-0 in ECC play, while the Spartans moved to 10-6 overall, 1-2 in conference play. For the second time this season, the Knights have defeated a nationally ranked opponent with both victories coming against the Spartans.
Doubles Competition
The Knights went up 1-0 to start the doubles competition as the #2 doubles junior duo of
Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) /
Lucas Demuth (Buenos Aires, Argentina) defeated Tony Khamassi/Ody Papaioannou to the score of 6-2.
Queens would take a 1-0 lead heading into singles competition as the #3 doubles pair of freshman
Philipp Uhde(Heidelberg, Germany) / senior
Hugo Evangelista de Andrade (Goiania, Brazil) defeated Ivan Laiz/Julius Upel to the score of 6-2.
The Spartans would earn a hard-fought victory at #1 doubles to avoid the sweep as the Knights' #1 duo of sophomore
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) / senior
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) fell 7-6
(7-5) fell to Eduard Simo/Ludo Truffelli.
But the Knights would take doubles competition 2-1 heading into singles play.
Singles Competition
Borges put the Knights up 2-0 as he earned a hard-fought first set victory of 7-5 before completing the second set win with a 6-3 victory over Simo at #5 singles.
At #2 singles junior
Mariano Bibiloni (La Plata, Argentina) put the Knights in a commanding 3-0 lead with a 7-6
(7-4) first set victory before winning 6-4 in the second set over Truffelli.
Rashad would clinch the match for the Knights as he dispatched Max Kendler at #1 singles to the score of 6-1 before needing a second tiebreaker of 7-6
(7-4) to complete the job.
Uhde would put the Knights up 5-0 as he rallied back from a first set loss of 6-4 against Laiz at #6 singles to win 6-2, 6-4.
The Spartans would take victories at #3 and #4 singles as Demuth fell at #3 singles to the score of 7-5, 4-6, 8-10 before Papaioannou defeated Shehawey at #4 singles in a three-set victory that saw the last two sets go into tiebreakers. Papaioannou would take the first set 6-4 before Shehawey sent the single match into the third set with a 7-5 victory but Papaioannu would take the victory earning a 7-5 third set victory.
UP NEXT: Head Coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights return to cross-divisional play as they travel to Hempstead, N.Y. for a non-conference matchup Division I member Hofstra University Pride. First serve is set for 1:00 P.M.
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