The Fordham women’s tennis team started their spring schedule off strong with a win over the St. Bonaventure University Bonnies, besting them 5-2 on Jan. 25. While competing at the Drumlins Country Club in Syracuse, New York, the Rams won five of six singles matches after dropping the doubles point when St. Bonaventure won two of three doubles matches. Four of these singles matches were won in straight sets. Senior Julianne Nguyen, senior Lorraine Bergmann, freshman Catalina Padilla Udaeta and junior Aya Matsunaga were responsible for the straight-set victories, while sophomore Lily Chitambar won Fordham’s fourth singles match. Additionally, Bergmann and Padilla Udaeta won Fordham’s lone doubles match on the day, claiming a 6-1 victory over Tamara Bachmann and Sienna Smith in second doubles.
The next day, Fordham was shut out by the Syracuse Orange, 7-0. Syracuse took all three doubles matches to take the doubles point, and then won all six singles matches for the sweep.
On Feb. 2 at Temple University in Philadelphia, the tide turned back the way of Fordham, with the Rams defeating Temple 5-2. The Rams struggled to start off, dropping the doubles point matches. Bergmann and Chitambar defeated Temple’s Shevita Aulana and Maria Martinez 6-3 in the Rams’ only doubles victory. The squad bounced back nicely, however, winning five of six singles matches and four in straight sets. Nguyen, Bergmann, Chitambar and Matsunaga took their respective matches in straight sets, while freshman Paola Ueno Dalmonico was pushed to a third set but prevailed, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, over Temple’s Marianthi Christoforidou. The women’s squad, who currently stand at 2-1 on the season, will next welcome Illinois State University to the Bronx’s Cary Leeds Center on Feb. 7 at noon.
The men’s tennis team struggled in University Park against Penn State University, also getting shut out 7-0 on Jan. 25. Penn State swept in the doubles matches to kick things off by taking the doubles point, and then won all six singles matches. The Rams took one set off the Nittany Lions in the singles matches, when Dhananjay Athreya won the second set in his match against Marcus Schoeman, forcing a third set that Schoeman won to claim victory in the match.
On Feb. 2 against New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Fordham was blanked yet again, with the Highlanders sweeping the Rams 7-0. The Rams faced an exceptionally strong NJIT squad that has won five straight competitions with scores of 7-0. Fordham pushed four of their singles matches to three sets. They currently stand at 0-3 on the season.
Next up, the men’s squad heads north to Connecticut. They face Fairfield University on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 5 p.m., looking for their first win of the season.
