Oct. 11, 2011
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Bronx, N.Y. -
The Fordham men's tennis team wrapped up its fall dual match schedule on Tuesday, posting a pair of wins over Wagner (7-0) and New York Tech (6-1) at the Hawthorn/Rooney Tennis Courts. With the two wins, Fordham finishes the fall season with a 6-0 dual match record.
"Playing two matches in one day is always tough because it's draining physically and mentally, but our guys did a great job in the last match keeping their energy high and taking care of business," said head coach Cory Hubbard.
"I like doubleheaders because it gives me a chance to get some guys in lineup, that don't always start. These guys are a big part of our team and work hard every day and really support the top guys, so it's great they get in some matches as rewards."
In the opening match, Fordham topped Wagner by a 7-0 count.
The Rams got things started with a doubles sweep of the Seahawks. Fordham's Kuba Kowalski and J.J. Tauil defeated Danil Ovechkin and David Garzon at first doubles, 8-3, which was followed by an 8-2 Fordham win at third doubles by Andriy Kulak and Dan Kane-West over Wagner's Pierre Yuzon and Chris Rautenstrauch. Luke Maloney and Jan Krouham then completed the doubles sweep with an 8-4 win at second doubles over Taylor Santoro and Matthew Richards.
In singles' action, Fordham won five of the six matches in straight sets, led by Koran at second singles and Kulak at fifth singles. Both players won 6-0, 6-0 over Garzon and Yuzon, respectively.
Tauil took care of Santoro at third singles, 6-2, 6-1, while Peder Gram defeated Richards at fourth singles, 6-4, 6-0. Michael Puntillo was the final straight set winner for Fordham, taking down Rautenstrauch, 6-3, 6-4, at sixth singles.
Kowalski completed the Rams' sweep of singles play, as he defeated Ovechkin at first singles, 6-2, 5-7, and 10-5.
In match two, Fordham defeated the New York Tech Bears, 6-1.
Once again, the Rams began the match with a sweep of the doubles action. This time, it was Gram and Koran defeating Dustin Wenchel and Pedro Peixoto at second doubles, 8-4, while Fordham's Eli Plangger and Puntillo won at third doubles by the same score over Filip Van Eylen and Eduardo Maurtua. Kowalski and Srikar Alla completed the sweep for the Rams with an 8-5 win at first doubles against Vojislav Pecikoza and Julian Marcon.
In singles play, Fordham won five of the six singles matches, all in straight sets. Alla put the first singles' win on the board, defeating Peixoto at second singles, 6-1, 6-1, followed by a 6-0, 6-2 win by Krouham over Marcon at fifth singles.
Tauil then defeated Van Eylen at third singles for his second win of the day, 6-2, 6-3, while Kulak (6-4, 6-0) and Koran (6-4, 6-4) also earned their second win each at sixth and first singles, respectively, over Maurtua and Wenchel.
"We set our goal this fall to lead the nation in victories and be 6-0, so we're very excited about that. There's a buzz and teams and coaches have commented about the direction of the program and how incredible it is that we have come thus far so fast. That being said I am nowhere close to satisfied and we have to improve in doubles tactics and individually work on some things if we want to reach our ultimate goal of an A-10 title," said Hubbard.
The Fordham men's tennis team has one final competition set for the fall, as Kowalski, All, and Koran will compete in this weekend's ITA Regional, hosted at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
