The Fordham Men’s Tennis team took on a red-hot Bucknell University Bisons squad this past weekend, falling 5-2 at the Central PA Tennis Center in Lewisburg.

Coming into their Saturday showdown, the Bison had won seven straight, overcoming an 0-4 start to the season. Despite the overall loss, the Rams did win two crucial singles points, with the first of which coming from graduate student Quinn Fender. He battled back from behind to top Harrison Gold of Bucknell 2-6, 7-6, 7-6. Another win came on the sixth singles court from impressive freshman Sampras Rakotondrainibe who won 6-3, 4-6, 3-2 after Bucknell’s Oscar Moreno was forced to retire from the match.

In doubles play, Bucknell won all three matchups to take the point. Among the defeats were the duo of Fender and junior Nicholas Kanazirev, who fell to Harrison Gold and Brendan McDonald 6-1. Juniors Toi Kobayashi and Giorgio Soemarno were also defeated, falling to Oscar Moreno de Vega and Amar Tahirovic.

The Rams find themselves in a rut of late having lost four straight and are now 1-6 on the season. The record, although disappointing, is part of a growing process for a relatively young team who is looking to grow together on an individual and group level.

The squad will be forced to look past last weekend’’s disappointing outcome when they take on Wagner College on Saturday, March 11, at 6:00 p.m. at the Life Time Athletic in Harrison, N.Y.