FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to return to the NCAA Men's Tennis Round of 16 for the first time since the 2018 season, the Queens College men's tennis team
(15-5 overall) earned the #1 seed in the East Regional bracket as they played host to #5 Le Moyne College Dolphins inside the QC Tennis Bubble Saturday afternoon.
After earning the doubles points following their victory at #2 and #3 doubles, the Knights took a 1-0 lead into singles.
But in a match that lasted over close to three hours and forty minutes, it would be a heartbreaking loss following the conclusion of singles play as Knights fell short of advancing to the Round of 16 to the final score of 4-3.
Queens began doubles play taking an early lead as the #2 senior pair of graduate student
Lluis Miralles Miro (Barcelona, Spain) and senior
Lucas Demuth (Buenos Aires, Argentina) defeated Dolphins pair of Peter Hatton and Manuel Righi to the score of 6-4.
The Knights would clinch the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead into singles play as the #3 pair of graduate student
Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) and junior
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) clinched the point with a 6-3 victory over Rodrigo Beires and Kacper Piekarek.
The match at #1 doubles between junior
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) and senior
Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) against Ethan Miller and Tom Jarry went unfinished.
In singles play, it would be a back-and-forth affair as at least six sets in four singles matches would be decided in a tiebreaker.
The Knights took a 2-0 lead following senior
Mariano Bibiloni's (La Plata, Argentina) victory at #6 singles as the senior made quick work of Alberto Diaz to the score of 6-1, 6-0.
But the Dolphins would cut the Knights advantage down to 2-1 as Rikkonen fell at #1 singles to Hatton to the score of 6-2, 6-3.
Queens would extend their lead to 3-1 as Borges earned a hard-fought first set victory of 7-6
(8-6) against Miller before earning a 6-3 second set victory as the Knights were now one match away from victory.
But the remaining three singles matches would go the distance in at least one set as both sides pushed each other to their final limit.
Le Moyne would earn the victory at #3 singles as Rashad fell 7-6
(7-3), 6-2 to Righi.
At #2 singles, sophomore
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) fell in two sets in a very close match to the score of 7-5, 7-6
(7-4) against Jarry as the Dolphins tied the match 3-3.
With the deciding point at #4 singles, Demuth would drop the first set in a tiebreaker to the score of 7-6
(7-5) before forcing a third set with a 6-3 second victory over Piekarek.
But with every game of the third set going down to the deciding serve, it would be a heartbreaking loss for the senior in his match as he fell in the third set to the score of 6-2.
Head coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights conclude the 2022-2023 season with an overall record of 15-5 but it was a season that saw the Knights continue their impressive run in the East Region.
In the fall the Knights saw Henricy advance to the ITA East Regional Single Tournament final, while the pair of Rikkonen and Borges advanced to the ITA East Regional Double Tournament final and earned an At-Large bid to the 2022 ITA Cup.
During the spring, the Knights earned East Coast Conference Co-Regular Season Championship honors before earning their fifth ECC title in six seasons with a 4-0 victory over Saint Thomas Aquinas College.
Queens would earn their 21
st straight NCAA Men's Tournament appearance as they earned hosting rights and the #1 seed in the East Regional Bracket for the first time since the 2017 season.
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