The Fordham men’s tennis team had a pair of matches over the weekend, falling to Sacred Heart University 6-1 on Saturday and outlasting Marist College in a back and forth 4-3 victory on Sunday.

Starting on Saturday, the Rams traveled to Fairfield to take on Sacred Heart, who had lost three out of their last four coming into the matchup. For the Rams, however, it was not their day. They came up short in all but one singles match where freshman Sampras Rakotondrainibe came from behind to top Sacred Heart’s Arya Alla. Despite the poor showing in singles on the box score, Fordham forced four matchups into a deciding third set, a silver lining amidst the sour taste of defeat.

The Rams quickly had to pick themselves off the ground as they ventured to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Sunday to take on a Marist squad desperate for their first taste of victory on the season. The boys in maroon battled to close out a tight 4-3 victory, thanks to a key sweep in doubles play. Graduate student Quinn Fender took care of business on the singles court defeating Marist’s Dylan Friedman in straight sets 7-5, 6-1. Other victories in singles play included junior Toi Kobayashi’s convincing straight set win over the Red Fox’s Nick Suahnitski, 6-1, 6-2, and Rakotondrainibe’s triumph over Carlos Vasquez 6-3, 6-0.

Inconsistency has marred the Rams throughout the season, as both singles and doubles play has shined and faltered at various points throughout the year. As such, the Rams find themselves at 5-8 with seven games left on the docket before the Atlantic 10 Tournament kicks off on April 26 in Orlando, Fla.

For Fordham, it will be crucial to start to build some momentum into a tough matchup next Saturday, where they’ll be on the road against a top-seeded Richmond Spiders squad sitting at 10-5.