LITTLE SILVER, N.J. – Returning to non-conference play Friday evening the Queens College men's tennis team matched up against nationally ranked #74 Monmouth University Hawks in an out-of-division contest at Little Silver Tennis Club.
The Knights would earn the doubles point at the #2 and #3 courts before dropping six hard-fought singles matches with three matches going the distance to fall to the final score of 6-1.
With the loss, the Knights fall to 3-2 on the year as their three-match win streak came to a close.
Doubles
Queens would take an early lead as the #3 doubles pair of junior
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) and rookie
Noah Gauthier (La Colle-sur-Loup, France) defeated Christof Zeiler and Francisco Erramuspe to the score of 6-0.
But the Hawks would tie the doubles contest as #1 senior pair
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) and
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) fell to Adam HIlerby and Gabriel Berner to the score of 6-3.
However in a back-and-forth affair at #2 doubles, the pair of sophomore
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and rookie
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) would earn a 7-5 victory over Diego Laporta and Gabriel Busato as Queens took a 1-0 lead into singles action.
Singles
In singles play, it would be six hard-fought matches with singles #1, #4, and #6 going into the third set.
At #2 singles Henricy was defeated to the score of 6-2, 6-2 with Hillerby tying the match at 1-1.
Andersson fell at #3 singles against Berner to the score of 6-4, 6-2 before Foix Sotos fell short to the score of 6-4, 6-4 against Buasto at #5 singles.
With the trailing 3-1, Queens would battle at the remaining three courts as all three Knights forced a decisive third set.
At #4 singles Shehawey dropped the first set to the score of 6-4 against Laporta before the senior earned a second set victory of 7-5. But Laporta would earn the victory and clinch the match with a 6-1 victory.
While at #1 singles Rikkonen took the first two sets into a tiebreaker as he dropped the first set to the score of 6-7
(5-7) before earning a 7-6
(7-5) second set victory over Mateo Bivol. But Bivol would earn the victory as Rikkonen fell to the score of 6-1.
Lastly at #6 singles senior
Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina) battled against Yoav Weinberg as the senior forced a third set as he fell in the first set to the score of 6-7
(5-7) before earning a 7-6
(7-5) second set victory. But Gonzalez would drop the third set to the score of 10-4 as Queens fell to the final score of 6-1 Friday evening.
Next Serve
The Knights now turn their attention to East Coast Conference play on Monday (Mar. 25) afternoon as they host the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College inside the QC Tennis Bubble. The first serve is set for 1:00 p.m.
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