March 29, 2011

Lawrenceville, N.J. - The Fordham University men's tennis team continued its 2011 spring season today, picking up a 5-2 road win over Rider College with the Rams winning four of the six singles matches.

Fordham opened the match taking the doubles point, winning all three doubles matches. Nick Kelly and Ken Fukumoto teamed up to win at first doubles over Rider's Rollie Malfitano and Matt DiMartino, 8-3, while Andriy Kulak and Eli Plangger took second doubles from Drew Laverty and Chris Esposito, 8-6. Kevin Maloney and Dan Kane-West made it a clean sweep for the Rams in doubles action with an 8-6 win over Rob Olsen and Milo Milosevic.

In singles play, Fordham took points at the second through fifth positions, all in straight sets. Kevin Maloney got things started with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Ryan Carpenter at second singles while Kulak was victorious at third singles over Laverty, 6-4, 6-2. Plangger picked up a win at the fourth spot, defeating John Spellman, 6-0, 6-0, and Kane-West won the fourth singles match for Fordham, knocking off Olsen at fifth singles, 6-3, 6-1.

"We started off very tight in the doubles and the conditions were pretty tough to play well with the wind. I was very pleased the way the guys responded after the doubles, we talked about playing with confidence and belief instead of playing scared to lose like we did in the doubles," said head coach Cory Hubbard. "They got the message and came out with solid starts winning all 5 first sets and then we kept the momentum and didn't give them a chance to get back into the match. We are in a tough stretch right now with a lot of matches last weekend and playing back to back days. It will be tough as we have several guys out with injuries, so we will need everyone to step up and contribute."

The Rams will next be in action on Wednesday, March 30th, as they travel to Poughkeepsie, New York, to face the Marist Red Foxes at 3:00 p.m.

Fordham (5) at Rider (2)
March 29, 2011

Singles
1. Rollie Malfitano (RID) def. Ken Fukumoto (FOR), 1-6, 6-1, 6-0
2. Kevin Maloney (FOR) def. Ryan Carpenter (RID), 6-0, 6-0
3. Andriy Kulak (FOR) def. Drew Laverty (RID), 6-4, 6-2
4. Eli Plangger (FOR) def. John Spellman (RID), 6-0, 6-0
5. Dan Kane-West (FOR) def. Rob Olsen (RID), 6-3, 6-1
6. Nick Lubold (RID) def. Luke Maloney (FOR), 6-2, 6-4

Doubles
1. Nick Kelly / Ken Fukumoto (FOR) def. Malfitano/Matt DiMartino (RID), 8-3
2. Andriy Kulak / Eli Plangger (FOR) def. Laverty/Chris Esposito (RID), 8-6
3. Kevin Maloney / Dan Kane-West (FOR) def. Olsen/Milo Milosevic (RID), 8-6