Sept. 18, 2011
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Bronx, N.Y. -
What a difference a year (and a top 30 recruiting class) makes for the Fordham men's tennis squad. Last year, the Rams fell to Siena, Saint Peter's and St. Francis but this year Fordham has already beaten all three squads, and all by 7-0 scores. After opening the fall with a win at Siena on Saturday, the Rams returned to the Bronx today and shut out Saint Peter's and St. Francis on the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts.
The Rams did it with a totally revamped lineup that featured four freshmen and two sophomore transfers, part of the recruiting class that was ranked the 27th best class in the nation by the Tennis Recruiting Network.
"Our goal was to lead the nation in victories after the first weekend and thanks to the three wins we are," said head coach Cory Hubbard. "What makes it even more impressive is the fact that we did it with four freshmen and two sophomores. But we still have a lot of room for improvement. Our goal is to play our best in April at the conference tournament."
The day opened with a 7-0 win over Saint Peter's College with the Rams winning each singles match in straight sets and also taking all three doubles matches.
The game opened with Fordham winning the doubles point as Kuba Kowalski and Srikar Alla took first doubles from Alex Frakes and Sebastian Barbero and Peder Gram and Mischa Koran won at second doubles over Fabian Valdiviezo and Nichollas Goulart De Lima by identical 8-2 scores. J.J. Tauil and Jan Krouham made it a clean sweep for the Rams by taking third doubles from Luccas Coutinho and Lukas Pospisil, 8-4.
In singles play, Kowalski took first singles from Frakes without dropping a set (6-0, 6-0) while Koran was victorious at second singles over Barbero, 6-3 and 6-4. At third singles, Alla upended Coutinho, 6-2 and 6-1 while Gram bested Pospisil at the fourth position, 6-1 and 6-1. Tauil took fifth singles from Valdiviezo, 6-4, 6-1, and Krouham made it a perfect 6-0 record in singles play for Fordham with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Goulart De Lima at sixth singles.
In the St. Francis match, the Rams again opened play with a sweep of the doubles matches as Kowalski and Alla won at first doubles over Tita Mba and Danlahdi Robinson, 8-4, and Gram and Koran were victorious at the second spot over Daniel Gonzalez and Martin Grunin, 8-4. At third doubles, Tauil and
Michael Puntillo made quick work of James Chung and James Brennan-Tsang, defeating the Terriers, 8-0.
In singles action, Kowalski took first singles from Robinson, 6-1, 6-4; Alla bested Mba at second singles, 6-3, 6-0; Koran shutout Gonzalez at the third position, 6-0, 6-0; Gram was victorious at fourth singles over Grunin, 6-4, 6-2; Tauil upended Brennan-Tsang at fifth singles, 6-2, 6-4; and Alex DeRienzo took sixth singles from Angobaldo, 6-2, 6-4.
The Rams will next be in action on Friday, September 23rd, as they open play in the USTA NTC Collegiate Invitational Tournament at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
