ORANGEBURG, N.Y. – Looking to conclude their three-match week on a high note, the Queens men's tennis team traveled to Orangeburg for an East Coast Conference match against the Spartans of St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday afternoon.
For the second time this year, the Knights would rally in singles play to defeat the Spartans as Queens earned a 5-2 match victory and completed the ECC series sweep.
With the win, the Knights improved to 6-5 overall and 3-1 in ECC play.
Doubles
Queens began the match earning a victory at #3 doubles as senior
Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina) and freshman
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) defeated Seth Newman and Henry Ronnberg to the score of 6-2.
But the Spartans would rally to tie the doubles action following sophomore
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and senior
Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) loss to Don Lominoque and Nathan Yacar to the score of 6-4 at #2 doubles.
Queens would go into singles play trailing 1-0 as the duo of senior
Roni Rikkonen (Tampere, Finland) and junior
Cameron Henricy (Las Palmas, Spain) fell to Ondrej Sramek and Ludovico Truffelli at #1 doubles to the score of 6-4.
Singles
The Knights would begin the rally at #1 singles as Rikkonen defeated Lominoque in straight sets to the score of 6-3, 6-4 to tie the match at 1-1.
Fiox Sotos would put the Knights up 2-1 following a three-set comeback victory at #5 singles over Ronnberg. Ronnberg would take the first set to the score of 6-2 before the sophomore rallied winning the final two sets to the score of 6-3, 6-3.
Freshman
Noah Gauthier (La Colle-sur-Loup, France) would put Queens in a commanding lead of 3-1 in a hard-fought two-set victory over Lennart Lehmann at #6 Singles. Gauthier won the first set to the score of 6-4 before clinching his match with a tiebreaker victory of 7-6
(8-6) in the second set.
The Spartans would cut the scoreline down to 3-2 as El Shehawey fell at #4 singles to the score of 6-7
(2-7), 2-6 against Newman.
Down to singles at #2 and #3 courts and both matches in the third set, Henricy would clinch the match for Queens in a back-and-forth three-set match against Truffelli. The Junior earned the first set to the score of 6-4 before Truffelli forced the deciding third set to the score of 7-5. But Henricy would clinch the match with a shutout third set victory to the score of 6-0.
Andersson would round out the scoring with a three-set battle victory over Sramek to the score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 as Queens earned a 5-2 match victory over the Spartans.
Next Serve
The Knights stay on the road with back-to-back matches against Division I opponents beginning on Monday (Apr. 8) afternoon as they travel to St. John's University. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m.
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