STAC Comes Up Short in Quest for Second Straight ECC Men's Tennis Title

Posted: Apr 21, 2023

Flushing, N.Y. - St. Thomas Aquinas College made its way out to the QC Tennis Center on Friday to do battle with Co-Regular Season Champions Queens College in the Finals of the East Coast Conference Men's Tennis Tournament. Despite putting forth a valiant effort against the Knights, STAC came up short in its quest for back-to-back ECC Championships, falling to Queens 4-0.

Due to extenuating circumstances, the championship, which is normally a two-day affair with semifinal and final rounds, was reduced to a one-day, winner takes all format. Earlier in the day, the University of the District of Columbia outlasted Daemen University 4-2 to claim third place via a consolation match.

STAC moves to 17-2 on the season and now awaits the seedings in the NCAA Division II Men's Tennis Tournament, which gets underway April 28-29 at selected campus sites. Meanwhile, Queens improves to 15-4 and should remain as the top East Region team when the brackets are released early next week.

QUEENS 4/ STAC 0 - OFFICIAL RESULTS

DOUBLES

1. Kareem Rashad & Roni Rikkonen (QC) def. Odysseas Papaioannou & Ludovico Truffelli (STAC), 6-1

2. Don Vinz Lominoque & Tobias Fuerschuss (STAC) def. Lluis Miralles Miro & Lucas Demuth (QC), 6-2

3. Omar El Shehawey & Moritz Borges (QC) def. Ondrej Sramek & Tony Khamassi (STAC), 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*

SINGLES

1. Cameron Henricy (QC) vs. Odysseas Papaioannou (STAC) 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 Did Not Finish

2. Roni Rikkonen (QC) def. Ludovico Truffelli (STAC) 6-3, 6-3

3. Kareem Rashad (QC) vs. Tobias Fuerschuss (STAC) 6-3, 5-4, Did Not Finish

4. Lucas Demuth (QC) vs. Ondrej Sramek (STAC) 6-0, 4-6, 2-1 Did Not Finish

5. Moritz Borges (QC) def. Lennart Lehmann (STAC) 6-3, 6-4

6. Mariano Bibiloni (QC) def. Alberto Espinosa Navarro (STAC) (QC) 6-4, 7-5

Order of Finish: 2, 5, 6*

#1 NCAA East/#40 ITA - Queens Record: 15-4, 5-1 ECC

#3 NCAA East/#43 ITA - STAC Record: 17-2, 5-1 ECC

THE ROCKHILL REPORT

"It was great to participate in another ECC championship match", stated Coach Dan Rockhill. "Queens played at the top of their game and really took it to us. They were determined, intense and focused throughout. We were just not able to hit enough quality shots today to win the match."

"I think this was a great learning experience for our players and they now know what is required if we want to excel in these important matches. We were able to identify a few things that we need to work on next week to be ready to compete in the NCAA tournament, should we qualify."

"I am pleased that our guys did not quit and fought hard until the last point", said Rockhill. "However, going forward, we need to get better starts physically, mentally and emotionally."

"Hats off to coach Drucker and the Knights", commented Rockhill. "They played extremely well and deserved the championship today. There is certainly no shame in having our only two losses this season coming against Queens and we do take some pride in that we are the only team in the region to defeat them."