By Dominic Capone

With the U.S. Open getting underway this week right here in New York, Fordham Tennis is also set to initiate as its 2019–20 campaign is right around the corner. Typically, the start of a new season brings fresh faces and freshman eager to learn the ins and outs of Division 1 sports. Key word—typically. For Fordham Men’s Tennis, they have the same exact roster as last year with no additions. This bodes well for the team as it went 4–2 in the A-10 Conference and 8–1 at home culminating to an overall record of 17-6 which is the most wins since the 2011-12 season.

Head Coach, Mike Sowter, who is going into his 5th year at the helm of Fordham Men’s Tennis, talked about last year’s success and what this upcoming season holds.

“Last year was a great step forward for our program. Since we don’t have any athletic scholarships it’s difficult to recruit blue chip talent but we have a core group of guys that work extremely hard day in and day out. The results were a good indicator of how the team has progressed from year-to-year and validated a lot of our hard work so I hope to continue that in the future.”

Speaking of the future, this season shows a lot of promise, as each of the men on the team have one more year of experience under their belt. Last year, there was not one senior on the team; this year there are a total of six seniors, three juniors and one sophomore.

The senior group, led by Finn Kemper, Fabian Hansch Mauritzson and Steven Duka, is ready to take on the challenge of competing for an A-10 Championship. Kemper was awarded an A-10 player of the week award last season while finishing the season with a 14–10 singles record and a 14–12 record in doubles play.

Coach Sowter is looking forward to one final ride with his senior class.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with all our seniors over the last few years and I know how much time, effort and sacrifice they’ve put in to being successful student-athletes so I’m looking forward to their final year.”

Fabian Hansch Mauritzson posted a 16–11 record in singles play while also winning 12 out of 22 doubles matches. As an upperclassman on this Fordham squad he also won his second consecutive team Spirit Award, showcasing his true leadership on the team. Steven Duka, a senior from Mahopac, N.Y., went 6–6 in singles matches during his junior year.

Notable matchups to look forward to this season are the Big East Champion Saint John Red Storm and the Radford Highlanders who come in as the Big South Champions. Radford will make the trek to New York to face Fordham on March 13 in Harrison while Saint John’s will host the Rams in Queens on April 4.

Fordham’s season gets underway on Friday Sept. 20 as they travel to Hamden, Connecticut for the Quinnipiac invitational.