FLUSHING, N.Y. – Looking to bounce back Wednesday afternoon, the Queens College men's tennis team matched up against their Division I team in a row as they played host to the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson University inside the QC Indoor Tennis Bubble.
Queens would clinch the doubles points at #3 and #1 courts before the Knights won five straight singles matches to clinch their second victory of the year to the final score of 6-1.
With the victory, the Knights earned their first victory over FDU since March 21, 2022, when they earned a 5-2 decision and have now evened the All-Time series to 7-7.
DOUBLES PLAY
Making their doubles debut at the #3 court, the pair of sophomore
David Cerne (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and freshman
Pablo Serrano (Cochabamba, Bolivia) earned their first victory of the year as they defeated the FDU pair of Matias Neira and Arya Prabhu to the score of 6-1.
Queens would clinch the doubles point behind the pair of junior
Alexis Martin-Gibiard (Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France) and freshman
Adam Laur (Boulogne Billancourt, France) at #1 court. The duo were promoted to #1 court and would justify the coaching decision as they earned a 6-2 victory over Tze En Gareth Ong and Andrew Nicolae to put the Knights up 1-0 heading into singles play.
The #2 doubles match between junior
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and rookie
Samuel Linck (Haarlem, Netherlands) went unfinished with the Queens duo up 5-3 over Gryffin Minor and Jorge Alonso-Cortes.
SINGLES PLAY
Leading 1-0, Foix Sotos at #1 singles would make quick work of Minor with a straight set victory to the score of 6-1, 6-1 for a 2-0 lead.
Martin-Gibiard playing at #6 singles would quickly earn his victory to the score of 6-1, 6-1 over Neira as the home side took a 3-0 lead.
One match away from clinching the victory Laur at #5 singles dispatched Alonso-Cortes to the score of 6-4, 6-0 as the Knights earned their second victory of the year.
Linck playing at #4 court for the first time this year matched up against Nicolae. The rookie would overcome a first set loss to the score of 3-6 before earning a second set tiebreaker victory to the score of 7-6
(7-3) to force the third set. In the third set tiebreaker, Linck and Nicolae would back and forth before the rookie Queens' Knight earned an 11-9 victory for Queens' fifth victory of the day.
Having the day off from doubles play, sophomore
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) earned a marathon three set battle over Asaf Schwartz at the #3 court. Andersson would take the first set to the score of 7-5 before dropping the second to the score of 2-6. In the third set, the sophomore would earn a 7-6
(7-1) victory to give Queens their sixth victory of the year.
In the final match of the day at #2 court between sophomore
Loup Alleno (Paris, France) and Mickus, Alleno earned the first set victory to the score of 7-6
(7-4) before he fell 4-6 in the second set. Mickus would earn the visitors their lone point of the day earning a 10-8 victory over Alleno to close out the scoring but the home side Knights would take home the bragging rights as they earned the victory to the final score of 6-1.
NEXT MATCH
Head coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights return to action on Friday, Feb. 28 as they welcome Fordham University Rams to town. 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)
