FLUSHING, N.Y. – Competing in the finals of the ITA East Regional Tournament, the Queens College men's tennis finalists fell short of individual crowns Monday afternoon at the USTA National Tennis Center.
The Knights had two finalists battling for the Singles and Doubles Championship crown for the first time since the 2016 ITA East Regional Championship Tournament.
In the doubles match, Queens #2 seed pair of graduate student
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) / junior
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) matched up against #3 seed and defending champions Southern New Hampshire University Jonathan Berling/Fernando Torres.
The Knights duo were looking to become the first pair since Sharvill Nawghre and Roman Laga won the crown in 2016.
Borges/Rikkonen dropped the first set 6-1 as the SNHU pair took an early lead and never looked back. In the second set, it was a closer affair as the Knights duo fought back. With the Knights leading 4-3, Berling/Fernando snatched the lead with two straight points to take a 5-4 advantage.
Queens would tie the set 5-5 before SNHU broke through for a 6-5 lead. Looking to tie the set once again on break point, Borges/Rikkonen would fall short as the Knights fell 7-5 in the final.
It was an impressive run for the first-year pair as the duo went 4-1 in the tournament as the #2 seed. The duo went through several top pairs of the East region. Borges/Rikkonen outlasted the Assumption pair of Brady Ryan/Lucas Caira (Round of 32), #12 Adelphi pair of Thiago Negrao/Thomas Horsley (Round of 16), #15 Dominican pair of Guilherme Salim/Marcos Lee (Quarterfinals), and #4 STAC Tobias Fuerschuss/Dom Lominoque (Semi-Final).
In the singles championship match, #2 seed sophomore
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) became the first Knight to advance to the championship match since Lucas Martinez made the finals in 2016. The sophomore was looking to become the first Knight to win the East Region crown.
Henricy matched up against #3 SNHU Jonathan Berling who made the finals in last year's tournament.
Henricy took a 2-0 lead in the first set before Berling fought back to take a 4-3 lead. But the sophomore would drop the first set to the score of 6-4. It was the first set the sophomore dropped all tournament.
In the second set, Henricy dropped the first two points before he battled back with three straight points and took a 3-2 lead.
Both players would exchange leads before Berling closed out the match with a 6-4 second set victory.
The first-year Knight put together an impressive run throughout the tournament as he advanced to the final without dropping a set as he went 5-1 in the tournament. Henricy picked up wins over SNHU Cade Nadeau with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 victory in the round of 64. He would defeat #21 Le Moyne Kacper Piekarek to the score of 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 32 before he dispatched #10 Chestnut Hill Tom Pitchley 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) to set up a quarterfinal match up against fellow teammate Uhde.
The sophomore would earn a 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 over Uhde to advance to the semi-final round.
In the semi-final, Henricy defeated #30 Le Moyne Ethan Miller in straight sets to the score of 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the championship match.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Somadi Druker and her Knights will now rest until October 23
rd as they conclude their fall schedule with a non-conference matchup against Saint Michael's College in Flushing. The first serve is set for 10:30 A.M.
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