FLUSHING, N.Y. – On Friday afternoon, East Coast Conference play opened for the defending regular season champions as the Queens College men's tennis team
(8-2 overall, 1-0 ECC) earned their fourth straight shutout victory of the season with a 7-0 sweep over the Firebirds of the University of District of Columbia
(2-7 overall, 0-1 ECC) inside the Queens College Tennis Bubble Friday afternoon.
Matching up against the Firebirds for the 23
rd time in program history, the Knights earned their fifth sweep over their conference foes in the last six matches while extending their win streak to 12 matches.
The Knights wasted no time in clinching the double points before picking up six straight singles victory for their fourth straight sweep victory of the season.
Queens began the afternoon taking an early 1-0 lead as the Egyptian connection of senior
Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) and junior
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) defeated Jake Bedforth and Oskar Karos to the score of 6-1.
The Knights would clinch the doubles point at #1 doubles as the duo of graduate student
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) and sophomore
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) earned a 6-3 victory over the Firebirds duo of Louis Mangeon and Mauricio Corty.
Queens would complete the doubles sweep as the German duo of junior
Tim Ostheimer (Frankfurt, Germany) and sophomore
Philipp Uhde (Heidelberg, Germany) defeated Juan Hernandez and Antonio Durall to the score of 6-4.
In singles play, Ostheimer wasted no time putting the Knights up 2-0 as he quickly dispatched Bedforth with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout victory at #6 singles.
Rashad gave Queens a 3-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at #2 singles over Corty.
Borges would clinch the match for Queens at #5 singles as he defeated Karos to the score of 6-3, 6-0.
Uhde would put the Knights up 5-0 with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at #3 singles over Durall.
Shehawey put Queens towards their fourth sweep of the season with a 6-3, 6-2 victory at #4 singles over Hernandez.
Looking to complete the sweep, Henricy would overcome cramps at #1 singles he earned a hard-fought victory over Mangeon. The sophomore would earn a 7-6
(7-2) first set victory over dropping the second set 6-1. In the tiebreaker, Henricy and Mangeon would trade the first 12 points before Henricy found himself trailing 6-7.
But the sophomore would complete the comeback earning the next four straight points to complete the Knights' sweep with a 10-7 victory Friday afternoon.
UP NEXT: Head coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights return to cross-divisional play on Saturday (Mar. 18) evening as they welcome Division I NEC member Warriors of Merrimack College to Flushing. First serve set for 7:00 p.m.
For the latest news on Queens College Athletics, follow the Knights at
queensknights.com or via social media on Facebook
(Queens College Athletics), Twitter
(@QCKnights), Instagram
(qcknightsny), qcmtennis
(@qcmtennis)
