Sept. 27, 2011
Final Stats
Philadelphia, Pa. -
The Fordham University men's tennis team is off to a hot start and that hot start continued today in Philadelphia as the Rams shut out La Salle, 7-0, on the La Salle Tennis Courts for their fourth straight win, and fourth consecutive shut out, on the year.
"It feels great to get our first conference victory," said head coach Cory Hubbard. "We talked about working our way up the standings, and wanting to do something special this year and making the conference aware that Fordham is in the mix. We came out starting in singles and really took control of the dual match as Mischa and Sri won quickly. The team responded and took care of business in straight sets."
The match opened with singles play as the forecast called for rain. Fordham quickly swept through the singles matches, winning all six in straight sets. Kuba Kowalski defeated Chad Berenato, 6-0 and 6-3, at first singles, Srikar Alla bested Joseph LaBate, 6-1 and 6-3) at the second position, Mischa Koran shut out Trevor Donovan, 6-0 and 6-0, at the third position, Peder Gram upended Robert Kasinow, 6-1 and 6-2, at the fourth spot, Jan Krouham was victorious over Fernando Tovia, 6-1 and 6-3, at fifth singles while J.J. Tauil defeated Hunter Selman, 6-1 and 6-3, at the sixth position.
The Rams closed out the match by winning all three doubles matches with Alla and Kowalski defeating Berenato and Tovia, 8-3, at first doubles, and Andriy Kulak and Eli Plangger besting Selman and Kasinow at the third spot, 9-8, winning the tiebreaker, 8-6. Michael Puntillo and Gram were upended at second doubles by La Salle's LaBate and Donovan, 8-6.
"Since we had clinched the match, I made some changes in doubles to get our seniors Andriy Kulak and Eli Plangger in the lineup," said Hubbard. "They really stepped up and I am so proud of the energy they brought. The doubles point came down to their match, and they dug deep as they were down 5-2 in the tiebreaker, but rattled off the last five points. The excitement the team showed when they won rushing the court and hugging those guys was probably the best feeling I have had since I have been here. It showed our heart and we refused to give in when we had already clinched the overall match. I am so happy the two seniors could get that conference win and clinch the doubles."
The Rams will next be in action on Friday, October 7th, as they open play at the Columbia Invitational.
"It's great to be 4-0 and have swept all 7-0, but we really can improve individually and then we can be dangerous as the competition gets tougher," said Hubbard. "It's nice this team is learning how to win early in the season. We are still leading the nation in dual match wins, which is our goal for the fall season."
