FLUSHING, N.Y. – In a match that lasted over three hours of play, the Queens College men's tennis team kept their composure to defeat Division I member Long Island University inside the Queens College Tennis Bubble.
The Knights
(2-2 overall) matched up against the Sharks
(0-8 overall) for the second straight year having fallen in a closely contested 4-3 match last season on March 4, 2022.
Looking to earn their first victory over the Sharks and first win of the spring, the doubles pair of graduate student
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) and sophomore
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) earned their second victory of the season as a pair in a 6-0 shutout victory over Akhil Indrabalan and Danila Ishchanka.
Queens would clinch the doubles point to go up 1-0 as the #2 doubles pair of Senior
Lucas Demuth (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and junior
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) fought back from being 3-2 down for a 6-3 victory over Gui Medeiros and Tuna Nergiizoglu.
In a back-and-forth match at #1 doubles, the pair of senior
Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) and graduate student
Lluis Miralles Miro (Barcelona, Spain) earned the doubles sweep with a 7-5 victory over Philip Hilble and Alex D'Anna.
Having earned the doubles point and taken an early 1-0 lead, Rikkonen would give Queens a 2-0 lead as he defeated Sergio Romero in straight sets to the score of 6-2, 6-1.
Demuth would continue the trend towards a victory and put the Knights in a commanding lead of 3-0 following his two-sets victory over Medeiros at #3 singles to the score of 6-3, 6-1.
The Sharks would trim the Knights deficit down to 3-1 as sophomore
Philipp Uhde (Heidelberg, Germany) fell to D'Anna to the score of 6-4, 6-4 at #4 singles.
The scoreline would get tighter as senior
Mariano Bibiloni (La Plata, Argentina) fell in a tight match at #5 singles to the score of 7-6
(7-4), 6-4.
With the score now reading 3-2, at #1 singles Henricy fought back to force a third-set tiebreaker as he fell 6-2 in the first set before clinching a 6-4 second-set victory.
While at #6 singles Borges who earned a first-set victory of 7-5 would fall 5-7 in the second set as Lucas Hornung forced a third set.
Borges would ensure there would not be a second straight loss to open the season as the graduate student cruised through the third set with a 6-0 victory earning the clinching point.
Henricy would complete his comeback over Hilble with a 6-2 victory in the third set as the Knights earned a 5-2 victory over the Sharks for their first victory of the season and first win over the sharks.
UP NEXT: It will be a quick turnaround for head coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights as they return to action on Saturday (Feb. 25) evening as they match up against another DI opponent in the Terriers of Saint Francis College Brooklyn. The first serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
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