Fordham University Men’s Tennis ended their week on a positive note against Morgan State University and Stonehill College after struggling against Florida Southern College and Lewis University on March 18 and 19.
On the 18th, the Rams were shut out in Lakeland, Florida by the Florida Southern Moccasins 4-0. The Moccasins swept in three doubles matches to claim the doubles point first, and went on to win all three completed singles matches to secure the victory. Florida Southern now sits at 11-5 on the season.
The following day, the Rams headed to Orlando, Florida, to face the Lewis Flyers, falling by a score of 4-3. Lewis won the doubles point, but Fordham’s freshmen Nicolas Garnier and Will Lokier took the second doubles match to force a third match for the doubles point. The Rams won first, second and fifth singles, but the Flyers claimed victory with three singles wins of their own. Freshmen Filip Horak, Jeremy Victoria and Lokier won their matches for Fordham.
The Rams remained in Orlando to face the Morgan State Bears on March 20, this time winning 4-1. The Rams first claimed the doubles point with victories by junior Dhillon Virdee-Oakley and sophomore Dhananjay Athreya in first doubles, and graduate student Phillip Uhde and Horak in second doubles. The Fordham freshmen continued to dominate, with Horak, Lokier and Victoria once again securing singles wins for the team.
Finally, the Rams returned home to the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts in the Bronx to face the Stonehill Skyhawks on Sunday, dominating Stonehill 7-0. The Lokier/Garnier and Athreya/Virdee-Oakley teams secured the doubles point for the home team before the Rams swept the singles matches, winning six of six. Lokier, Victoria, junior Ruben Russwurmand freshman Andro Barrientos all won their singles matches in straight sets in an effort to defeat the Skyhawks. The Fordham men now sit at 5-7 on the season and look to win their third straight when the St. John’s University Red Storm visit the Bronx on April 2.
The Fordham women’s team traveled to Virginia to face the College of William & Mary Tribe on March 19, falling 4-3 to the home team. Sophomore Julianne Nguyen and junior Nevena Kolarevic won first doubles for the Rams, but Fordham dropped the next two doubles matches to give the Tribe the doubles point. Kolarevic also picked up a win at first singles, alongside victories by senior Lorraine Bergmann and freshman Catalina Padilla Udaeta, but William & Mary won three singles matches of their own to claim the victory.
Fordham then picked up two victories in Richmond, defeating the University of Richmond Spiders 4-1 and the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams 4-2 in two Atlantic 10 conference matchups. Against the Spiders, Fordham won the doubles point with victories by Kolarevic and Nguyen in first doubles and freshman Paola Ueno Dalmonico and Padilla Udaeta in third doubles. Kolarevic, Bergmann and sophomore Lily Chitambar won their singles matches to give Fordham the conference win.
Facing the Virginia Commonwealth University Rams, the Dalmonico/Udaeta and Bergmann/Chitambar doubles teams won Fordham the doubles point. Fordham also won first, fourth and fifth singles on the rackets of Kolarevic, Chitambar and Dalmonico for their second straight conference win. Their next matchup is also against St. John’s University on Saturday, March 29.
