FLUSHING, N.Y. – Returning to cross-divisional play, the Queens College men's tennis team welcomed Division I Fairleigh Dickinson University to the QC Indoor Tennis Bubble Thursday afternoon in a Battle of the Knights showdown.
The Knights captured the doubles point with wins in two of three matches before taking four of six singles contests to earn a hard-fought 5-1 victory. In a match that stretched over four hours and featured three singles contests going the distance, senior
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) delivered the clincher with a three-set comeback victory at No. 1 singles.
With the win, Queens improves to 14-0 on the season.
DOUBLES PLAY
The visitors struck first at No. 2 doubles as the Queens duo of junior
Said Akbarov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and sophomore
Ismoil Khayriddinov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) fell 4-6 to Gryffin Minor and Benjamin Wrann.
Queens responded at the top spot, as the senior tandem of
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and
Alexis Martin-Gibiard (Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France) earned a 6-4 victory over Joshua Oboniye and Tze En Gareth Ong to even the score.
The doubles point came down to No. 3, where juniors
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) and
David Cerne (Ljubljana, Slovenia) edged Nate Roberman and Asaf Schwartz in a tightly contested match, securing a 7-6
(7-1) tiebreak win to give Queens a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.
SINGLES PLAY
Queens extended its lead early as sophomore
Andres Urquiola (Tarija, Bolivia) posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Wrann at No. 4 singles to make it 2-0.
FDU answered at No. 2 singles, where Andersson dropped a 6-3, 6-4 decision to Oboniye, trimming the lead to 2-1.
The Knights pushed the advantage to 3-1 behind Martin-Gibiard, who earned a three-set win at No. 3 singles, 6-0, 4-6, 6-0, over Alonso-Cortes.
With three matches remaining, all eyes turned to a marathon battle at No. 1 singles between Foix Sotos and Minor. Minor claimed the opening set in a tiebreak, 7-6
(7-4), before Foix Sotos responded with a 7-6
(7-5) second-set victory. In a tightly contested third set, the Queens senior prevailed 6-4 to clinch both the match and the team victory.
At No. 5 singles, Khayriddinov added to the total with a gritty three-set win over Schwartz, 6-1, 3-6, 1-0
(10-7), as Queens secured the 5-1 final.
Sophomore
Pablo Serrano (Cochabamba, Bolivia) was leading his match at No. 6 singles 7-6
(7-4) before it went unfinished.
NEXT UP:
Queens continues cross-divisional play on Friday, April 4, traveling to the Bronx, N.Y. for a matchup against Big East member St. John's University. First serve is scheduled for 10:00 a.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)
