By Jack McLoone
During the collegiate men’s tennis season, teams only play conference foes a handful of times. Fordham Men’s Tennis has not wasted these opportunities, with their 4-2 victory over St. Joe’s on Saturday bringing them to 2-1 in Atlantic 10 play. They are now 12-6.
Freshman Max Green played a huge role in the Rams’ victory, notching wins in both second singles and third doubles.
The match started with doubles play, where the Rams won two of three. Green was matched up with sophomore Allen Thornes, and they topped the Hawks’ Dan Tan and Peter DeWitt 6-3. This win by the third team proved critical, as the first team of freshman Lutwin de Macar and sophomore Fabian Mauritzson dropped their game, 6-3. The second team of sophomore Finn Kemper and Jeremy Chung pulled out the 6-4 win to give the Rams the doubles point.
“Doubles is huge for us to win; we have not lost a team match this season when we have won the doubles point,” said Green.
Green set the tone for the singles matches, shutting out opponent Beekman Schaeffer 6-0, 6-0. He finished his match first, which he thinks gave the rest of the team momentum.
“I think overall I played very well,” said Green. “Going into singles I felt very comfortable and my serve and forehand were really working well.”
Despite Green’s early win, the Hawks did not go away quietly. De Macar’s tough day continued with a loss to Tim Stierle in first singles, 6-4, 6-1. Freshman Alex Maktasaria dropped his match to Dan Tan 6-1, 6-3, tying the total points at 2.
However, the last two games to finish both went the Rams’ way to give them the victory. Maurtiszon took down DeWitt to the tune of 6-4, 6-1, which also happened to be the score of Kemper’s victory over Andre Fick.
“The win against St. Joseph’s was huge for our team,” said Green. “We only have a few conference matches each year, so these are the biggest matches for our team during the season. This also helps our seeding in the upcoming conference tournament in Florida.”
The Rams would have liked to roll with that momentum into a match on Sunday against Navy, but it was scheduled to be outdoors and hence canceled due to the cold. Under the rules of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, outdoor matches must have a predicted temperature of over 50 degrees. The temperature on Sunday topped out at 46.
“It’s definitely been different playing a large majority of our matches indoors. Coming from California, I played exclusively outdoors all year around because the weather was so good,” said Green. “It’s just been a bit of a waiting game with the weather at this point, because we’ve had to move so many of our outdoor matches inside.”
However, despite the constant moves indoors, the Rams are in great position with just two more scheduled matches before the A-10 Championships. Their 12-6 record is impressive when you realize just how young the team is; while there are upperclassmen on the team, only freshmen and sophomores played on Saturday.
“Honestly, I think our team chemistry and our hard work on and off the court has been the key to our team’s success,” said Green. “I think our coaching staff has also helped all of our players this season. For that I have to thank our head coach Mike Sowter.”
The Rams will finally look to play outdoors at home on Sunday, April 15, when they host the St. Francis College-Brooklyn Terriers. The match is scheduled to start at noon.
