FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to keep the momentum going, the Queens College men's tennis team
(3-2 overall) earned their second straight victory over a Division I opponent as the Knights kept their composure to defeat the Terriers of Saint Francis College Brooklyn
(1-7 overall) Saturday night inside the Queens College Tennis Bubble.
In a match that lasted over three hours and went the distance for the second day in a row, junior
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) kept his cool as the Knights clinched the winning point at #6 singles to the 5-2 victory over the Terriers.
Matching up against the Terriers for the first time in a dual match since the 2013-13 season, Queens would earn their second straight over the Terriers to take a 2-0 overall series over the Division I Terriers.
The Knights got off to a quick start as the #3 doubles pair of graduate student
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) / sophomore
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) would earn their third straight victory as the duo defeated Javier Latorre and Jakob Naylor to the score of 6-2.
But the Terriers pair of Jan Godfrey Seno and Luis Foix Sotos would tie the doubles competition following their victory over the #1 doubles pair of senior
Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) and graduate student
Lluis Miralles Miro (Barcelona, Spain) to the score of 6-4.
With the clinching point now to come at #2 doubles, the pair of senior
Lucas Demuth (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and junior
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) would go into a tiebreaker against Lucas Fiox Sotos and Matheus Paiva.
But the Knights would earn the clinching victory at #2 doubles to the final score of 7-6
(7-4) to give Queens a 1-0 lead heading into Singles play.
After dropping his single match on Friday, senior
Mariano Bibiloni (La Plata, Argentina) would bounce back with a quick two-set victory over Lucas Deliano at #4 singles to the score of 6-1, 6-0.
At #5 singles, Miro would give Queens a commanding lead of 3-0 as he defeated Lucas Soto to the score of 6-2, 6-3.
But the Terriers would fight back as they earned victories at #2 and #1 singles.
Rikkonen fell to Assil Boussayri at #2 singles in a hard fought two-set loss to the score of 6-7
(6-8), 4-6 before Henricy fell at #1 singles to Seno to the score of 4-6, 5-7 to bring the score line to 3-2.
Playing a closely contested match, it would come down to #3 singles Rashad and #6 singles Shehawey.
Rashad who fell in the first set to Habib Stambouli to the score of 6-3 would fight back to force a third set with a 6-4 second-set victory.
While Shehawey would defeat Leon Harder in a back-and-forth first set as he earned a 7-6
(7-5) victory before Harder forced a third set with a 6-4 second set win.
With both matches now in the deciding third set and momentum starting to shift towards the Terriers, Shehawey had other ideas as he bounced back to quickly dispatch harder in the third set to the score of 6-1 giving the Knights their second straight victory of the season.
Rashad would ensure the score line would continue toward the Knights' favor as he earned a 7-6
(7-5) third victory over Stambouli as Queens officially improved their record to 3-2 on the season.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights will now prepare for their third straight NEC opponent in a Battle of the Knights Affair as they matchup against the Fairleigh Dickinson University Knights on Tuesday (Feb. 28) afternoon inside the QC Tennis Bubble. The first serve is set for noon.
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