March 24, 2012
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Bronx, N.Y. -
Unlike most matches, today's men's tennis match between Fordham and Saint Joseph's opened with singles play and was followed by doubles. That only added to the suspense for the spectators as the match came down to the final doubles match, which went to a tiebreaker, with the Hawk's Tommy Gates and Dan Barrus taking that tiebreaker from Fordham's Srikar Alla and J.J. Tauil to lead Saint Joseph's to a 4-3 win on the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts.
With the loss, Fordham's first at home this year, the Rams fall to 13-5 on the year.
Saint Joseph's opened doubles play with a 1-0 advantage thanks to an 8-6 win by Alex Veronis and Peter Cognetti over Fordham's Max Peara and Peder Gram at the third position. But the Rams' Kuba Kowalski and Mischa Koran evened things with an 8-6 win over Jeff Kessler and Max Montague at first doubles.
The match came down to the second doubles competition with Alla and Tauil fighting back from a 7-6 deficit to force the tiebreaker. The Fordham duo took an early lead in the tiebreaker before falling to Gates and Barrus, 7-3.
In singles action, the Hawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Max Montague upended Tauil, 6-2, 6-2, at fifth singles but the Rams came roaring back, winning the next three singles matches to take a 3-1 lead. Kuba Kowalski got things started for Fordham with a 6-2, 6-3, win over Alex Veronis at the number one position while Alla followed Kowalksi's win with one of his own, a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Jeff Kessler at second singles.
Mischa Koran picked up the Rams' third singles point with a 6-1, 7-5, win over Gates at the third spot but that would be the final singles point for the home squad.
The Rams will return to action on Sunday, March 25th, as they host Wagner College at 10:00 a.m. and Lafayette College at 1:00 p.m. on the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts.
