FLUSHING, N.Y. – The Fairleigh Dickinson men's tennis team captured its first win of the 2019 season with a 4-3 victory over Queens College on Thursday.
 
The Knights (1-2) took one of three doubles matches in ceding the doubles point but went on to earn wins in four of the six singles bouts to win the overall match.
 
Sophomore Maciej Autuch earned wins in both singles and doubles. He teamed with fellow sophomore Moric Budinszky at no. 2 doubles, and the duo defeated Jose Zurro and Kareem Rashad of Queens by a 6-4 score. Autuch later won his singles match at the no. 4 position, taking the first set 6-4 before dropping the second set 3-6. The sophomore bore down in the third set to defeat his opponent 6-2 in the third set and win the match.

Freshman Mehdi Dhouib won what proved to be the deciding match at no. 1 singles. He earned a first-set victory over Cosme Jubera of Queens, 6-4, but his opponent matched him with a win in the second set to force a deciding third stanza. Dhouib powered through the third set though and came away with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 match win that sealed the overall victory for the Knights.
 
Junior Ivan Solans Diaz won in straight sets at no. 5 singles, cruising to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Mariano Biblioni.
 
Sophomore Andris Gudins at no. 2 singles also won in three sets. Similar to Dhouib, Gudins won his first set but dropped the second to force a decisive third set. Gudins finished the match strong and earned a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over Lucas Demuth.
 
Sophomore Eduardo Cabral suffered his first singles loss of the season but did not go down without a fight. Cabral forced a tiebreaker in the first set against Nicholas Volos at no. 6 singles, taking his opponent all the way to 11-13 but ended up on the short end of the score. Cabral then dropped the second set by a two-point game to fall 6-7 (11-13), 4-6.
 
Budinszky rounded out the singles lineup for the Knights at the no. 3 position, falling in straight sets by a 6-0, 6-2 margin.
 
Both doubles losses for the Knights ended in 6-4 scores, with Dhouib and Gudins teaming up at the no. 1 spot and Solans Diaz and Cabral uniting at the no. 3 position.
 
The Knights next play Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m., against Delaware, with the match held at the Elkton Indoor Tennis Center in Elkton, Md.
 
BOX SCORE
DOUBLES
Cosme Jubera/Lucas Demuth (QC) def. Mehdi Dhouib/Andris Gudins (FDU), 6-4
Moric Budinszky/Maciej Autuch (FDU) def. Jose Zurro/Kareem Rashad (QC), 6-4
Mariano Biblioni/Nicholas Volos (QC) def. Ivan Solans Diaz/Eduardo Cabral (FDU), 6-4
 
SINGLES
Dhouib (FDU) def. Jubera (QC), 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
Gudins (FDU) def. Demuth (QC), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Rashad (QC) def. Budinszky (FDU), 6-0, 6-2
Autuch (FDU) def. Zurro (QC), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Solans Diaz (FDU) def. Biblioni (QC), 6-4, 6-0
Volos (QC) def. Cabral (FDU), 7-6 (13-11), 6-4