WASHINGTON, D.C. – Opening a two-match weekend road trip, the Queens College men's tennis team made the trip to Washington, D.C. as the Knights matched up against the Firebirds of the University of District of Columbia Friday afternoon at UDC Tennis Courts.
The Knights would drop the doubles contest before both sides split the singles action as the Firebirds stunned Queens to earn a 4-3 victory Friday afternoon.
With the loss, the Knights move to 4-3 overall and 2-1 in ECC play. Friday's loss to the Firebirds sees a 14-match win streak come to an end as the home side earned their first victory over Queens since April 18, 2014.
Doubles
The senior doubles pair of
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) and
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) returned to the #1 spot Friday afternoon but it would be the home pair of Louis Mangeon and Louka Quequiner who would earn a 6-3 victory over Queens to take a 1-0 lead in singles play.
It would be a duel at #2 doubles as sophomore
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and rookie
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) battled Mauricio Corty and Oskar Karos. However, the Firebirds would take the doubles points with a 7-5 victory.
While at #3 doubles, the pair of junior
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) and rookie
Noah Gauthier (La Colle-sur-Loup, France) went back and forth in a hour long doubles match against Juan Hernandez and Antonio Durall before the Queens pair earned a thrilling 7-6
(16-14) tiebreaker victory.
Singles
With Henricy and Andersson rested for singles action, senior
Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina) would tie the match 1-1 as he defeated Karos in straight sets to the score of 6-2, 6-2 at #4 singles.
But Quequiner would put the Firebirds back up 2-1 as El Shehawey fell in straight sets to the score of 2-6, 4-6 at #2 singles.
Rikkonen would tie the match at 2-2 as he earned a two-set victory over Mangeon at #1 singles to the score of 7-6
(7-5), 6-2.
The Knights would take a 3-2 match lead as Gauthier earned a three-set comeback victory over Hernandez at #5 singles to the score of 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Down to the final two singles at #3 and #6, the Firebirds would tie the match 3-3 as Fiox Sotos fell in a tough three-set loss to Durall to the score of 6-7
(5-7), 6-4, 3-6.
With the match now tied at 3-3, the Firebirds would earn their first victory in a decade over Queens as freshman
David Cerne (Ljubljana, Slovenia) fell 3-6, 5-7 at #6 singles against Corty.
Next Serve
The Knights conclude the road trip with a stop in Philadelphia, PA. on Saturday (Mar. 30) afternoon as they match up against the Rams of Thomas Jefferson University. First serve is set for noon.
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