Annapolis, Md. - (Nov. 13, 2007) - The Fordham squash team opened its 2007-08 season this past weekend at the Navy Round Robin Tournament in Annapolis, Md. The Rams went 1-4 at the tournament, picking up a win over Washington, while dropping match two Navy, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Navy "B".
In the opening match against Navy, Fordham was swept by a 9-0 count. Navy took each slot by a 3-0 score, with the closest match coming at sixth slot, as Navy's Kit Zipf defeated Fordham's Peter Slucky, 9-1, 9-2, and 9-5.
In their next match, Fordham fell victim to Stanford by a 9-0 score. Though Stanford swept each slot (3-0) the Rams put up fights at the third, sixth and eighth slots. Stanford's Pat Bugas topped Fordham's Jason Sheriff, 9-7, 9-1, and 9-5, while Slucky fell to Brad Pearson, 9-2, 9-8, and 9-5. In the eighth slot, Stanford's Will Lewis defeated Tolga Suvar, 9-1, 9-7, and 9-5.
On day two of the round robin, Fordham posted their first win of the season, defeating Washington, 5-4.
The match came down to three five-game matches at the first, eighth, and ninth slots. Fordham opened the match by winning at the fifth and sixth slot behind Brandon Abbatiello (10-8, 9-5, 6-9, 9-4) and Slucky (9-6, 3-9, 10-9, 9-3). The Rams got two more points at the eighth and ninth slots, as Suvar (9-0, 3-9, 5-9, 9-2, 9-1) and James Lechleitner (9-10, 9-5, 5-9, 9-3, 9-4) won five-game matches. With the match knotted at 4-4 apiece, Fordham's Charles Sterken pulled out a five-game win at the first slot over Rob Shaw by scores of 9-0, 4-9, 9-6, 3-9, and 9-7.
The Rams tried to make it two wins in a row, but fell to Vanderbilt by a 9-0 count. The Rams almost picked up points at the fourth and ninth slot, but Charles Kromholz and Lechleitner both fell in five games.
In the final match of the tournament, Fordham lost to the Navy "B" squad, 9-0. All matches were 3-0 sweep, except at the fifth and ninth slot. Abbatiello lost in four games, 9-4, 9-4, 2-9, and 9-3, while Lechleitner fell in five, 8-10, 6-9, 9-2, 9-3, and 9-3.
The Fordham squash team will next be in action on Wednesday, November 14th as they play at Vassar College, beginning at 5:00 PM.
