Feb. 12, 2012
Box Score
Ithaca, N.Y. -
The Fordham men's tennis team fell just shy of its first win over a ranked opponent on Sunday, as the Rams fell to the 48th-ranked Big Red of Cornell by a 4-3 score at the Reis Tennis Center in Ithaca, New York. The Rams did however have one major upset, as Fordham's Kuba Kowalski defeated the #98 ranked player in the country in Cornell's Venkat Iver.
"Our guys showed tremendous energy and heart the entire match," said head coach Cory Hubbard following the match. "Even though we lost, it came down to the final two matches in third sets. To lose 4-3 to a top 50 ranked team really says a lot and shows how far we have come in just one year. We are in the process of building something special and it's because of the heart and will of these guys. I think we earned a lot of respect tonight and teams across the country will take note of this score."
Cornell opened the match by earning the doubles point with three tight matches. Cornell's top pairing of Alex Sidney and Iver, who was ranked 35th in doubles play, edged out Fordham's Mischa Koran and Kowalski, 8-5, while Danny Riggs and Quoc-Daniel Nguyen sneaked by Fordham's third doubles pair of J.J. Tauil and Srikar Alla, 8-6. The final doubles match saw Sam Fleck and Jason Luu defeat Fordham's Peder Gram and Max Peara, 8-3.
"After losing the doubles point and losing five first sets, my guys never quit and continued to battle back. We had the momentum there for a while in the later stages of second sets and gave ourselves a chance to pull the upset."
The chance for an upset began with Alla defeating Riggs at second singles in straight sets, 7-6 and 6-4, which was followed by a comeback victory by Fordham's Peara at sixth singles. Peara dropped the opening set to Evan McElwain, 7-5, but he rallied to win the second set, 6-3, and the super tie-breaker, 10-8.
The big opportunity for upset thoughts to continue came from Fordham's Kowalski, who matched up with Cornell's nationally ranked player Iver. Iver took the opening set, 6-2, but Kowalski showed plenty of guts, rallying to win the final two sets, 7-5 ad 6-3, for the upset.
"I'm proud of Kuba to come back from a set and break down to get his first ranked victory. He has been close with all of the #1 players from Harvard and Columbia, so it's great that he finally got over the hump and pulled it out. It shows he never quits."
With the score at three all, the deciding match ended up at fourth singles between Fordham's Tauil and Cornell's Sidney. The two players split the first two sets, as Sidney won the opener, 6-2, while Tauil rallied for a 6-4 win in set two. Sidney however stopped Tauil's comeback effort, winning the deciding set, 6-0.
"Most of their guys were blue chip top 30 recruits, so for my guys to be right there shows how much we have improved, but we can't be satisfied with being close. We have to improve our doubles because even though we fight till the end, I don't want to always have to battle from behind."
The Fordham men's tennis team (7-2) will next be in action on Friday, February 17th, when the Rams travel to St. Bonaventure, New York, to meet the St. Bonaventure Bonnies at 4:00 PM.
"We have a huge conference road match this Friday against St. Bonaventure, so we have to recover quickly and come back with even more determination. I hope this close loss, gives the guys confidence, but makes them hungrier and ready to get back to practice."
