Fordham University Men’s Tennis hosted Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) in a hidden dual this past Sunday, Oct. 27, on the Hawthorn/Rooney Courts at the Rose Hill campus. On their home turf, the Rams were led by junior Dhillon Virdee-Oakley, who notched wins in both singles and doubles play.
In singles play, Virdee-Oakley faced FDU’s Thomas Linley. After narrowly dropping the first set, 4-6, Virdee-Oakley impressively recovered to take the second set and dominate the third, 6-3, 6-1. In doubles, Virdee-Oakley paired with sophomore Dhananjay Athreya against Linley and Joshua Oboniye. In an intense match, the pair was able to secure a victory, finishing 8-5.
The Rams also saw some other impressive showings in singles play. Freshman Will Lokier defeated Asaf Schwartz, 6-1, 6-3, and freshman Andro Barrientos was also able to secure a win against Benjamin Wrann, 6-2, 6-2. However, Fordham saw more defeat than victory in solo matches — Athreya dropped to Gryffin Minor, 4-6, 4-6; freshman Filip Horak to Tyler Crook, 1-6, 6-2, 1-6; freshman Nicholas Garnier to Jorge Alonso-Cortes, 6-7, 2-6; graduate student Phillip Uhde to Andrew Nicolae, 7-6, 6-7, 3-6; and sophomore Cristian Ramos to Matias Neira, 2-6, 1-6. Fortunately, the Rams saw more success in doubles play alongside the Virdee-Oakley/Athreya duo, the namesake pair of Horak and Uhde taking down Schwartz and Minor, 8-5.
Earlier in the weekend, Fordham sent Horak and Lokier down to Davidson College to compete in the inaugural Atlantic 10 Master’s Qualifier. Horak tasted victory in his first set against Saint Louis University’s Luca Lo Nardo in the Round of 32 match, 6-3, 6-2, but fell to Davidson’s Uddayvir Singh in the Round of 16 match, 5-7, 4-6. Lokier, on the other hand, was unable to secure a win against George Mason University’s Ekansh Kumar in the Round of 16 match, 2-6, 2-6. Horak and Lokier had a chance to compete in doubles as well, but narrowly fell to Cole Brashear and Davis Wiley of the University of Richmond in the quarterfinals, 6-8.
Despite the less-than-ideal showing in singles play and at the A-10 Master’s, the Rams saw some hope in their doubles matchups. Overall, Fordham will have time to prepare for their competition in the distant future when their spring season commences on Jan. 19 with a match at Brown University.
