After two years riddled with postponements and cancelations due to the ongoing pandemic, Fordham Men’s Tennis looks to return to some sense of normalcy during the 2021-2022 season. The team is coming off a 6-6 season that culminated with a heartbreaking defeat against the University of Richmond in the A-10 tournament last April. Richmond’s win landed them in the semifinal and they ended up advancing to the A-10 championship match, but came up short against a red hot Virginia Commonwealth University team. 

Last year’s season was led by the senior duo of Fabian Mauritzson and Lutzin de Macar, who have both since graduated and moved on from the program. The all-Atlantic 10 pair leave some big shoes to fill for the handful of rising seniors on this year’s team, as well as some of the new, younger faces who are just joining the Fordham squad.

Each year an average DI tennis team plays around 20-25 matches, 10-15 of which are in-conference. Over the past two seasons combined, Fordham has played only 22 matches including two Atlantic 10 tournaments. As of today, the 2021-2022 schedule has not yet been released, but one can expect a much lengthier season with fewer cancellations and COVID-19 related issues. 

There are a number of unknowns with this team, as many of their core players including senior Max Green, and the aforementioned Mauritzson and de Macar have all graduated and left Fordham. Their departures create enormous opportunities for last year’s younger players to take over and show Coach Sowter what they can provide for this team. 

Mike Sowter enters his seventh season at the helm of the program. He took over after a very disappointing 2014-2015 season, in which Fordham was only able to capture three wins while enduring 13 losses. The program has seen steady improvement ever since. In fact, since Sowter assumed the post in 2015, the team hasn’t had a losing season, something that was seen as routine prior to his arrival. While no one can be sure how this upcoming season will go given all the roster turnover, Sowter’s track record indicates that he will field another formidable squad.