Oct. 15, 2010

New Haven, Conn. - Making it's first appearance in some time, members of the Fordham men's tennis team competed at the ITA Northeast Regional, held at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut.

"This is the first time Fordham has competed at the ITA Regional in a while, and I was proud of the effort our guys gave," said head coach Cory Hubbard. "The main goal was to let my guys see the best players in the region and get some exposure to the top teams. In order to get the program where I want down the road, it was important to get our program's name in the mix and get these teams, players and coaches in the region to realize that Fordham tennis is on the way up."

In the main singles draw, Fordham's Alex DeRienzo took on Stony Brook's Roope Kaiaheimo in the first round. Kailaheimo would go on to defeated DeRienzo in straight sets, 7-5 and 6-0.

"I was proud of Alex because prior to the match we talked about walking on the court with a belief and confidence that he belongs at that level. He did a tremendous job and played his best first set of the season. He had chances to win the set, as he was just two points away at 5-4 (0-30). I believe this was a great experience and he learned a lot that will help us in the spring," said Hubbard.

In the main doubles draw, Fordham's duo of Nick Kelly and John Thornhill took on Fairleigh Dickinson's Yuri Gricheno and Dom Hemy in the opening round. Gricheno and Hemy would take down Kelly and Thornhill by a score of 8-4.

"In the doubles, Nick and John both played with good energy and served pretty well. We haven't played much indoors and we struggled to return as the opposing team served really well," said Hubbard.