SURPRIZE, ARIZ. – A historic season came to an end Wednesday afternoon as the No. 27-ranked Queens College Men's Tennis team battled No. 4-ranked and No. 6 seed Flagler College Saints in the opening round of the NCAA Championship at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex.
Making their third straight appearance on the national stage, the Knights entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed, the highest NCAA Championship seeding in program history. Competing under intense Arizona heat, Queens dropped the doubles point before the Saints secured three singles victories to clinch the 4-0 decision.
Doubles Play
Queens faced an early deficit in doubles action as the No. 3 tandem of senior
Lucas Foix Sotos (Javea, Spain) and junior
Tim Andersson (Linkoping, Sweden) fell 6-1 to Aniss Rafiq and Oliver Hradilek.
The Saints secured the doubles point on Court 1, where junior
Said Akbarov (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) and sophomore
Samuel Linck (Haarlem, Netherlands) dropped a 6-1 decision to Ilian Borlee and Simon Malis.
The No. 2 doubles matchup featuring senior
Alexis Martin-Gibiard (Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France) and sophomore
Adam Laur (Boulogne Billancourt, France) was left unfinished with the Knights leading Aly El Rafie and Filip Kana, 5-1.
Singles Play
In singles competition, Queens faced the challenge of taking on a Flagler lineup featuring five nationally ranked players.
Akbarov battled No. 17 Simon Malis at the top singles position before falling 6-3, 6-1.
At No. 4 singles, Andersson was defeated by No. 73 Aly El Rafie by scores of 6-1, 6-1.
Laur faced No. 35 Aniss Rafiq on Court 2 and came up short 6-3, 6-1 as the Saints officially clinched the match.
Despite the final result, the Knights were competing strongly in the remaining unfinished contests. Foix Sotos claimed the opening set against No. 14 Ilian Borlee, while Martin-Gibiard stood one game away from victory at No. 5 singles, leading Raphael Rousson 6-1, 5-4.
Head coach
Somadi Druker and the Knights close the 2025-26 campaign with a program-record 22-3 overall mark. Queens earned its ninth appearance in the NCAA Championship Final Rounds, including a third consecutive trip to the national stage, while also capturing a share of the East Coast Conference regular season title and securing a fourth straight ECC Tournament championship.
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