Oct. 5, 2012
New York, N.Y. -
The Fordham University men's tennis team opened play today at the Columbia Invitational where Kuba Kowalski and Srikar Alla both advanced to the quarterfinals in the A singles flight.
Alla opened play with a hard-fought win over Ian Tesmond of Fairfield. Alla dropped the first set, 7-5, but came back to win the second in extra sets, 7-6 (8), and then took the tiebreaker, 1-0 (8).
Kowalski, who is seeded fourth, also got off to a slow start, dropping the first set to Cornell's Alex Sidney, 6-3, before bouncing back to take the second, 7-6, and the tiebreaker, 1-0 (3).
Alla will face Dragos Ignot, the third seed, from Columbia in the quarterfinals on Saturday while Kowalski will meet St. John's Michael Lampa.
In B singles play, Fordham's Emilio Mora, seeded third, advanced to the quarterfinals with a straight set win over Kyle Berman from Cornell, 6-0, 6-4. He will face Erik Kremheller from Fairfield in the quarterfinals.
In C singles action, Fordham's Max Peara opened play with a 6-4, 0-6, 1-0 (5) win over Columbia's Chris Sabaitis while teammate Jan Krouham defeated Joe Motta of Marist, 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 (9) to move on to the quarterfinals. Peara will take on top-seeded Mark Mozer from St. John's on Saturday while Krouham will face Spencer Clark from Cornell.
Peder Gram also competed in C singles, falling to Alex Wilton from Cornell, 6-4, 6-4, and he will play Monmouth's Brian Switzler in the C singles consolation bracket on Saturday.
In doubles action, the team of Mora and Peara won their first match at A doubles over Columbia's Laster and Jacobs, 8-3, but then fell to Lampa and Morth from St. John's in the quarterfinals, 8-6.
Kowalski and Alla also won their first A doubles match, defeating Columbia's Sabaitis and Lemann, 8-4, but then fell to Fairfield's Tesmond and Kremheller, 8-6.
In B doubles, the Fordham team of Peder Gram and Mike Puntillo lost to NJIT's Croad and Alban, 8-3.
"It was a great showing by our team today as we went 5-1 in singles, and went 3-1 against Ivy teams," said head coach Cory Hubbard. "What I am more proud of is the way we competed and fought under pressure, as we went 4-0 in third set tiebreakers. That shows a lot of heart and determination."
