The Clippers hosted regional rival the Queens College Knights. As the doubles took to the courts first the match was sure to be an interesting one. Alex Grubin and Andrey Boldarev paired up as the number one doubles pair for the day. Grubin and Boldarev played well as they were on serve. As the pair broke their Knights opponents, Grubin and Boldarev went ahead. With games left the Knights threatened in each game but Grubin and Boldarev held strong and finished out the match with an 8-3 win.
Felix Missal and Raphael Namias, slotted at the number three
doubles position, pushed themselves as they faced their
opponents. Missal and Namias stayed on serve through four all
and then found a break opportunity and took advantage. With
another break by Missal and Namias they took the match 8-4
Tamas Dobrotka and Andreas Lindell, slotted at number two doubles, were moving well on the court to stay in the match as they were on serve through five all. With the Knights getting a break point and then capitalizing on it the Knights took the 7-5 lead over Dobrotka and Lindell. Dobrotka held his serve to move back within one but the Knights took the last game and the doubles match 8-6.
With the Clippers up 2-1 over the Knights, it was the singles turn to play.
Alex Grubin took his role at the number one singles spot. After staying on serve through 2-2 Grubin stepped up and took the rest of the games with his dominating serve. With complete dominance in the second set Grubin went ahead 4-0. His Knights opponent then retired due to an injury and Grubin took the match 6-2; 4-0.
Andrey Boldarev, at the number two spot, was working hard as his
opponent pushed him back away from the baseline. Having to
play behind the baseline became tough for Boldarev but he came out
on top after breaking his opponent’s serve twice to take the
first set. The second set was just as much of a challenge for
Boldarev as his opponent inched closer to get a set. Boldarev
broke his opponent once and did not let up his serve to grab the
set and moved the Clippers just one more match away from the team
win. Boldarev won with scored of 6-2; 6-4.
Raphael Namias, at number four singles, surrendered only one game to his opponent through the first set. As the second set pressed on, Namias started to struggle as his committed a few unforced errors. With one move Namias was able to break his opponent as he took his time hitting the ball over and over again, taking his time to win the second set. With the scores of 6-1; 6-4 Namias gave the Clippers the fifth mark in the win column for the Clippers to take the team match.
Felix Missal, at number three singles, played well in the first set as he surrendered just one game. With the second set on serve Missal was pushed to a tiebreaker. After staying on serve and then going up 3-2 in the tiebreak, Missal then hit a few unforced errors and dropped the second set and the match was forced into a deciding third set. The third set for Missal saw him catch his second wind. Missal let up just two games throughout the set. As the match went on in time, Missal finished out with some big serves and took the match 6-1; 6-7 (7-4); 6-2.
Tamas Dobrotka, at the number five spot, struggled in his first set. As he was broken twice he went down 3-6. Dobrotka came back in the second set as they were on serve through four all. With one break point Dobrotka took the lead as his match went on. With a second set 6-4 victory, Dobrotka pushed the match to a deciding third set super tiebreaker. Going back and forth Dobrotka, though tired, he pushed himself farther and gained an edge to win 10-7.
Andreas Lindell, finishing out the Clippers line-up for the match
at the number six singles. Lindell going out with his killer
attitude kept up his pace as stayed on serve. With a break
Lindell went ahead to take the first set 6-3. Liking to not
be on court for long, Lindell mirrored his performance in his
second set with another 6-3 victory to give the Clippers the 8-1
win.