FLUSHING, N.Y. – Opening a two-match homestand on Friday (Mar. 8) evening, the Queens College men's tennis team welcomed Division I foe Merrimack College Warriors to QC Tennis Bubble for an out-of-division matchup.
Queens would complete a double sweep for the first time this year as they earned all three victories before taking five of the six singles matches to earn a 6-1 victory over the Warriors to earn their second straight victory of the year.
With the win, the Knights improved their overall record to 2-1 on the young season and earned their third straight victory over Merrimack to take a 4-2 lead in the All-Time series.
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 6-3 victory over Aryaan Bhatia and Jacob Dubas.
The Knights would earn the doubles point as the #3 doubles pair of junior
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) and rookie
Noah Gauthier (La Colle-sur-Loup, France) defeated Henrik Lindeman and Jack Brimm to the score of 6-3 to take a 1-0 lead into singles play.
Queens would complete the sweep at #2 doubles as the pair of sophomore
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and rookie
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) defeated Charles Robertson and Valentin Riveros to the score of 6-4.
Singles
Opening singles play, Queens took a 2-0 lead as Foix Sotos defeated Brimm in straight sets to the score of 6-2, 6-0 at #5 singles.
The Warriors would cut the deficit down to 2-1 as Rikkonen fell to Bhatia at #1 singles to the score of 3-6, 6-7
(4-7).
But it would be the lone loss of the night for Queens as they went on to earn four straight singles victories.
At #3 singles Shehawey earned a hard-fought three-set victory over Robertson to the score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to put the Knights up 3-1.
Senior
Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina) would clinch the victory over Queens at #6 court as Gonzalez earned a three-set victory to the score of 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 for a commanding 4-1 match lead.
Henricy would earn the Knights their fifth victory of the night with a three-set comeback as the junior earned a 6-7, 6-1, 10-6 victory over Dubas.
Andersson would complete the 6-1 victory with a three-set comeback victory at #3 singles to the score of 4-6, 6-0, 7-6
(7-5) over Lindeman.
Next Serve
The Knights open East Coast Conference play on Friday (Mar. 15) afternoon as they welcome the Firebirds of the University of the District of Columbia to Flushing. The first serve is set for 1:00 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)
