Sparkill, N.Y. - The St. Thomas Aquinas College Men's Tennis team battled familiar foes on Friday afternoon, as the maroon and gold visited Queens College in an East Coast Conference regular season matchup at QC Tennis Bubble.
In the first of two conference bouts this season, the Knights would put together a solid outing to claim a 5-2 victory over the Spartans.
STAC falls to 10-4 overall and 2-1 in ECC play, while Queens improves to 7-3 and 2-1.
Queens opened the match, taking two of three doubles competitions with No. 3 Lucas Foix Sotos & Loup Alleno besting Erik Victor Tauson & Ondrej Sramek, 6-3 followed by No. 2 Tim Andersson & Samuel Linck defeating Nagamitsu Kuroda & Don Vinz Lominoque, 6-4 to clinch the first team point. STAC avoided a clean sweep with No. 1 Seth Newman & Henry Ronnberg beating Alexis Martin-Gibiard & Adam Laur, 7-5
When the sides turned singles action, the host Knights would go up 2-0 on the strength of a 6-1, 6-3 triumph by No. 3 Tim Andersson over
Don Vinz Lominoque. STAC responded with No. 6
Henry Ronnberg scoring a 6-3, 6-3 decision against Adam Laur to cut the deficit to 2-1. However, Queens would take the next two bouts to clinch the ECC match, as No. 2 Loup Alleno bested
Lorenzo Meschini 6-1, 6-3 and No. 1 Lucas Foix Sotos won over
Seth Newman 6-4, 6-4. No. 4 Alexis Martin-Gibiard extended the hosts win streak to three with a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 three sets victory over
Erik Victor Tauson. The Spartans would close out the day's events as No. 5
Ondrej Sramek was successful againt Samuel Linck 6-7 (4), 6-1, 1-0 (5) to narrow the deficit and loss to 5-2.
QUEENS 5/STAC 2 - OFFICIAL RESULTS
DOUBLES
Order of Finish: 3, 2*, 1
SINGLES
1. Lucas Foix Sotos (QC) def.
Seth Newman (STAC) 6-4, 6-4
5.
Ondrej Sramek (STAC) def. Samuel Linck (QC) 6-7 (4), 6-1, 1-0 (5)
Order of Finish: 3, 6, 2, 1*, 4, 5
QC Record: 7-3, 2-1 ECC
STAC Record: 10-4, 2-1 ECC
THE ROCKHILL REPORT
"We struggled today," stated Head Coach Dan Rockhill. "The good news is that it was glaringly obvious where we went collectively wrong and it will be fixed. Once again, credit to Queens. They were ready for us and took advantage of our timid play. Unfortunately, bad habits show themselves from time to time in important moments. The players are not computers, robots or machines so these things happen. As long as we keep working hard it will become more difficult for our guys to surrender in big moments. We have great young men and they are trying to be successful. I suspect that we will continue to improve and be ready for our next opportunity."
UP NEXT
STAC takes on Vassar College in non-conference action on Wednesday, April 2 at the Cretella Tennis Courts, with first serve scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in Poughkeepsie, New York.
