Hookset, N.H. – Close yet so far as the No. 3 seed Queens College men's tennis team season officially concluded in the NCAA men's tennis second match as they fell in a heartbreaking loss to host and No. 2 seed Southern New Hampshire University Penmen Tuesday afternoon at Penmen Stadium Tennis Courts.
The doubles point would prove to be the deciding factor as singles play saw each team win three singles matches on the afternoon.
Doubles Competition
The Knights fell behind in doubles competition as the host took a 1-0 lead as the No. 3 doubles pair of junior Mariano Bibiloni (La Plata, Argentina ) / sophomore Tim Ostheimer (Frankfurt, Germany) fell 6-3 to Emmanuel Vacalares / Boris Stastny.
The Penmen would clinch the doubles point with a victory at No. 1 singles as the Knights doubles duo of sophomore Omar El Shehawey (Cairo, Egypt) / senior Moritz Borges (Hunxe, Germany) fell short against Jonathan Berling / Thomas Guy to the score of 6-4.
The Knights' No. 2 junior doubles pair of Kareem Rashad (Alexandria, Egypt) / junior Lucas Demuth (Buenos Aires, Argentina) match went unfinished.
Singles Competition
The Knights would rebound as Borges quickly tied the match 1-1 with a victory at No. 5 singles as the German native conclude his Knights career on a high note with a two-set victory over Stastny to the score of 6-1, 6-3.
Queens would take a 2-1 lead as sophomore Francisco Gonzalez (La Plata, Argentina ) defeated Cade Nadeau to the score of 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6 singles.
But the Penmen would tie the match 2-2 as Bibiloni fell at No. 2 singles which included a hard-fought loss of 7-6 (7-2) in the first set before Guy completed the two-set victory with a second set victory of 6-3.
But Rashad would put the Knights up 3-2 as he defeated Berling in a three-set victory at No. 1 singles. The Egyptian native would pick up the first set victory to the score of 6-4 before Berling tied the match with a 6-3 victory in the second set. But Rashad would dig deep and put the Knights up 3-2 with a 6-3 victory in the third set.
At No. 3 singles Demuth would pick up the first set victory over Vacalares to the score of 6-4 before the Penmen avoided match point on two different occasions with Demuth serving for the match in the second set. But Vacalares would clinch the second set victory with 7-6 (8-6) before defeating Demuth in the third set to the score of 6-1 to tie the match 3-3.
With the match tied 3-3 and the winner set to advance to Florida for Sweet 16, it would come down to the fourth singles between Shehawey vs. Fernando Torres at No. 4 singles.
Shehawey would fall behind in the first set as he fell 6-2 before needing a second set tiebreaker victory of 7-6 (7-4) to force a third set and set up a thrilling finale.
Shehawey would trade points but fall in a heartbreaking loss of 6-4 in the third set as SNHU officially ended the Knights' season for the second time in three seasons.
Head coach Somadi Druker and the Knights conclude the season with an overall record of 17-9, the most wins in a season since the 2018 season.
Provided by the Queens Sports Information Department.
