FLUSHING, N.Y. – The 2024 Queens College men's tennis team spring season officially went underway Friday (Mar. 1) afternoon as the Knights welcomed the Pride of Hofstra University to Flushing in a non-Division II matchup.
The Knights would fall in double action as the Pride earned victories at second and third doubles to take a 1-0 lead.
Queens would battle back in singles as they earned victories at court #1, #4, and #5 for the singles action split as the Pride earned a narrow 4-3 victory over the Knights.
Doubles
Queens opened the doubles play with the #1 court of senior pair
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) and
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) earning a 6-2 victory over Mahrt Guyou and Vincent Turina for an early 1-0 lead.
But the Pride would battle back as they earned a 6-4 victory over junior
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) and sophomore
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) falling to Ostap Kovalenko and Maxim Michaels at #2 court.
Hofstra would clinch the doubles point at #3 court as the rookie pair of
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) and
Noah Gauthier (La Colle-sur-Loup, France) fell to Josh Reynolds and Kaita Odani to the score of 6-3.
Singles
Rikkonen would tie the match at 1-1 with a three-set victory over Kovalenko to the score of 6-2, 6-7
(3), 10-7 with a victory at #1 court.
But the Pride would take a 3-1 lead as Henricy fell at #2 court to the score of 4-6, 2-6 against Reynolds before Andersson fell in a tough three-set match at #3 court against Matthew Garcia to the score of 3-6, 6-3, 8-10.
The Knights would attempt a comeback as Shehawey earned a hard-fought three set victory at #4 court over Michaels to the score of 4-6, 7-5, 10-8 to get Queens within one, 3-2.
Sotos would tie the match at 3-3 with a victory at #5 court as he defeated Matsuoka to the score of 6-0, 6-3.
But the Pride would earn a 4-3 match victory as senior
Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina) fell in a back-and-forth three-set match at #6 court against Odani to the score of 6-4, 2-6, 12-10.
Next Serve
On Sunday (Mar. 3) afternoon the Knights will hit the road for the first time as they match up against Violets of New York University who enter the week with an overall of 0-1. The Knights lead the All-Time series against NYU with a 4-1 record and It is the first meeting against the Violets since the 2008 season.
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