STAFF WRITER

The Fordham men’s tennis team competed in the USTA College Invitational held at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens from Sept. 20-22. Seniors Matty Najfeld and Kuba Kowalski and juniors Max Peara, J.J. Tauil, Michael Puntillo, Peder Gram and Jan Krouham participated in the elite men’s singles competition.

Krouham would go on to be the top Fordham finisher, making an impressive run to the semifinals in the D flight singles and the C flight doubles finals. In his first singles match, Krouham made a stellar comeback against Victor Theorin of Youngstown State after dropping the first set 6-4. He went on to take the second set 7-5 and finished with a tiebreaker win, 10-5.

“It was a great win for me because I wasn’t doing well at all in the first set and the beginning of the second set,” Krouham said. “I had a couple match points against me and he was serving for the match, but he made a few mistakes that kept me in the game. I got pumped up and it made me want to fight harder and be more consistent.”

In the first round of the A flight, Najfeld fell to Bryant’s Dana Parziale 6-3, 6-0. For the B flight’s first round, Kowalski won the first set against Boston College’s Jonathan Raude 6-3, but dropped the second 6-1 and finished with a 10-7 tiebreaker loss.

In C flight singles, Tauil won the first set 7-5 against Monmouth’s Daniel Ginsburg, but lost the second 7-5 and the tiebreaker 10-6. In the D flight singles, Puntillo won his first round match in the D flight, as Oliver Bellomi retired in the first set, but then fell to Boston College’s  Matt Wagner, 6-0, 6-1. Peara and Gram each fell in the first round by identical 6-4, 6-0 scores Peara to Monmouth’s Brant Switzler and Gram to Dmitriy Borodkin from Morgan State.

In Krouham’s third match, he defeated Bucknell’s Jon De Francesch in the second round, 6-0, 6-1.

“I made a lot of adjustments from the first match,” Krouham said. “You’ve played two matches already and tested every single shot on the courts with the weather. Some might think that it’s a disadvantage because you might get tired, but I find it more advantageous because you can adjust from your previous matches.”

Krouham was knocked out of the tournament by top-seeded Mateo Guidici of Marist, 6-3, 6-2.

Krouham was paired with Nick Cameron from NJIT in the C doubles flight. Krouham and Cameron won their first match against Marist’s Guidici and Joe Motta, 8-4, following that with an 8-5 victory against Boston College’s Alexander Aziz and Alexandre Thirouin in the second round. In the semifinals, they defeated John Bogdanovic and Kevin Budranowich from Sacred Heart, 8-6. Due to Cameron’s injury, they chose to default the finals match against Youngstown State’s Max Schmerin and Victor Theorin.

When asked about adjusting to a new doubles partner, Krouham said, “You have to get to know him as fast as possible, try to ask him a couple of key questions like what side he likes to play, if he likes to serve or volley a lot. I think we got very lucky because our styles matched perfectly. He was a great server and volleyer, and I’m better with groundstrokes from the back.”

In other doubles play, Najfled and Kowalski teamed up in the A flight, falling in a very competitive first round match to Boston College’s Michael McGinnis and Phil Nelso 9-8 (10-7). In the B flight, Peara and Tauil were bested in the first round by St. Francis’ Lawson Barter and Rodrigo Tico, 8-4. Gram and Puntillo were upended by Max Schmerin and Victor Theorin from Youngstown State, 8-2 in the C flight.

The Rams make their home debut on Saturday, Sept. 28, as they host New York Tech at 12:00 p.m., followed by Adelphi University at 4:00 p.m.