Firebirds Men’s Tennis Edged at Queens in Battle of Regionally-Ranked ECC Foes
FLUSHING, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's tennis team was edged, 5-4 by East Coast Conference foe Queens in a battle of two regionally-ranked teams on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.
UDC (7-6, 3-2 ECC), ranked No. 4 in the first NCAA East Region poll released this week, held a 2-1 lead after doubles play but dropped four of the six singles matches as No. 6 Queens (10-3, 4-1 ECC) pulled off the upset win on its home courts.
After the Firebirds' No. 3 pairing of Ander Murillo and Diego Pinto fell 8-4, UDC captured victories at No. 1 and 2. Senior Simon Andersson and freshman Alexis Baguelin, ranked No. 7 in the ITA East Region, won at the top spot, 8-5, and freshmen Rok Bozic and Marco Feligioni toughed out an 8-6 victory at No. 2. UDC became just the 3rd team all season to win two of three doubles matches vs. the Knights.
Singles play is where the Knights took the Firebirds by storm, however, as Queens was victorious in the first three consecutive matches at No. 5, 2 and 3, and took a 4-2 lead.
Pinto won his No. 4 singles match, 6-4, 6-2 vs. Gabriel Mendez, and Andersson followed by grinding out a 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 comeback win over Christopher Baron at No. 1. The two teams were tied, 4-4, heading into what would be the decisive No. 6 match.
Feligioni needed three tiebreakers to win his first set, 7-6, but dropped the next two, 6-2, and 6-3 to Miguel Bendito, as Queens won the match, 5-4.
Next up, UDC will host the No. 6 ranked team in Division II and top-ranked team in the East Region, Concordia College (NY) on Sunday, April 12th.