April 19, 2008

Bronx, N.Y. - Fordham's Dallas Harting defeated Holy Cross' Matt Wierzel at first singles while teammate Austin Shoup scored a win over John Burke at second singles to lead Fordham to a 7-0 win over Holy Cross on the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts. With the win, which snaps an eleven-match losing streak for Fordham, the Rams improve to 2-14 on the year while Holy Cross falls to 4-8.

The loss ruin a Homecoming for Holy Cross head coach Mike Lewis, a 1990 Fordham graduate who played for Fordham head coach Bob Hawthorn as an undergraduate.

Fordham opened the match by winning the doubles point, taking all three doubles matches. Harting and Shoup teamed up to take first doubles from Wierzel and Burke, 9-8 (8-6), while Brandon Abbatiello and Kevin Maloney won at second doubles over Kevin Leggio and Jay DiSanto, 8-0. Ken Fukumoto and Nick Kelly completed the Fordham doubles sweep with an 8-2 win over Dan Phelan and Matt Vicidomo at third doubles.

The Rams then completed the shut out by taking all six singles matches. Harting's match with Wierzel was the only one to go to a tiebreaker as Harting dropped the first set, 6-4, before forcing the tie-breaker with a 6-3 win in the second set. Harting then won the match with a 10-5 win in the tie-breaker.

Shoup was victorious in straight sets at second singles by scores of 7-5 and 6-3 while Abbatiello took third singles from Phelan (6-3, 6-0< and="">Pat Tool won at fourth singles over DiSanto (6-0, 6-0). Sotiris Georgiou upended Tom Steinert at fifth singles (6-3, 6-3) and Peter Slucky won at sixth singles over Leggio (6-1, 6-1) to complete the Fordham shut out.

The Rams will close out the 2007-08 season by hosting Concordia College on the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts on Friday, April 25th at 3:00 p.m.

Holy Cross at Fordham April 19, 2008

Doubles

1. Dallas Harting/Austin Shoup (F) def. Matt Wierzel/John Burke (HC), 9-8 (8-6)

2. Brandon Abbatiello/Kevin Maloney (F) def. Kevin Leggio/Jay DiSanto (HC), 8-0

3. Nick Kelly/Ken Fukumoto (FU) def. Dan Phelan/Matt Vicidomo (HC), 8-2

Singles

1. Dallas Harting (F) def. Matt Wierzel (HC), 4-6, 6-3, 10-5

2. Austin Shoup (F) def. John Burke (HC), 7-5, 6-3

3. Brandon Abbatiello (F) def. Dan Phelan (HC), 6-3, 6-0

4. Pat Tool (F) def. Jay DiSanto (HC), 6-0, 6-0

5. Sotiris Georgiou (F) def. Tom Steinert (HC), 6-3, 6-3

6. Peter Slucky (F) def. Kevin Leggio (HC), 6-1, 6-1