Oct. 21, 2012
New Haven, Conn. -
The Fordham University men's tennis squad closed out play today at the 2012 ITA Northeast Regional at Yale University where Emilio Mora and Mischa Koran advanced in doubles play before falling the number one seed in the quarterfinals.
Mora and Koran opened the day with an 8-5 win over Columbia's Columbia's Dragos Ignat and Eric Rubin before facing the number one seeded doubles pair in the quarterfinals, Matija Pecotic and Zack McCourt from Princeton, falling, 8-5.
"This was a great weekend for Fordham," said head coach Cory Hubbard. "We made a big statement and were there as one of the last team standings. Today's matches featured only players from top 50 programs along with four from Fordham which says a lot. Mischa and Emilio fought had great win against Columbia and then fought hard against the top seeds. They were down 7-2 but just kept battling and had the momentum and a chance to get it back to 7-6. That shows a lot of heart and fight to battle until the end instead of giving in against the top team."
In single play today, Kuba Kowalski fell to fourth-seeded Vasco Mladenov of St. John's, who is ranked 38th nationally, 7-6 6-3. Kowalski had two set points first set before falling, 7-6.
Also in singles action, Srikar Alla lost to third-seeded John Huang of Yale, 6-4, 6-4.
"Kuba and Srikar both played well and hung in against two of the top four players in the region who are also nationally ranked," said Hubbard. "Kuba had two set points in the first and if he converts he probably pulls the upset against a top-40 nationally ranked player. Srikar battled and had a very close match with just one break as the difference each set. He really had two great wins and has established himself as one of the better players in the region."
"What's even more encouraging is with one doubles team in the last eight and two singles players in the last 16, is that all four of these guys return next year, and can go even further."
