Coming into this past weekend with an even record of 4-4, Fordham Men’s Tennis had two matchups scheduled, looking to get back to the winning side and earn its first victory since April 10. While the scheduled Saturday road affair with St. Bonaventure University was cancelled, the Rams found themselves victorious the following day, defeating Queens College by a sweeping score of 7-0 in Flushing. They played again on Tuesday, dropping another road affair to Eastern Florida State College 4-2.

Those two results put the Rams back at an even record on the year, placing the team at 5-5 to finish off the regular season and setting them up for a date with La Salle University in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championships in Orlando, Florida on Thursday, April 29.

The Sunday set of matches for Fordham at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was nothing short of dominance over Queens, blanking them overall and dominating in each individual game, set and match. 

Starting off in doubles, the Rams’ pairs of seniors Alex Makatsaria and Max Green and juniors Tom Russwurm and Jofre Segarra finished their victorious efforts against the respective pairs of Moritz Borges with Kareem Rashad and Omar El Shehawey alongside Eduardo Marino. Thanks to the two Fordham doubles wins, Fordham seniors Lutwin de Macar and Fabian Mauritzson did not even have to finish their matchup with Mariano Bibiloni and Kareem Rashad before the doubles point was awarded to the Rams, and they had an early lead on the day.

Fordham did not look back from there.

The Rams found themselves on top in all six singles matches, highlighted by Mauritzson’s 6-1, 6-2 venture over Queens’ Tim Ostheimer and Makatsaria defeating Rashad 6-1, 6-4. The final tally on the day’s victories was 7-0 in favor of Fordham in about a blink of an eye. That kind of result put the Rams on a high and in a good frame of mind as they made their way down to Florida to prepare for Thursday’s commencing of the conference tournament.

But there was one more opponent left for Fordham to finish out regular season competition, and that opponent of Eastern Florida State proved much more difficult than the Rams might have expected for what they likely considered an A-10 Championship warm-up game.

In the opening doubles matchup, Eastern Florida State proved itself a worthy opponent by taking the point much in the way the Rams had over Queens on Sunday, dominating in two matches and making an opening statement.

After a handful of victories in singles matches, such as Thomas Reche’s 6-4, 7-6 win in the top slot, the Titans clinched a victory on the day when Jaewoo Choi took down de Macar in the third set 7-6 after a 7-5 tiebreaker.

The loss to the Titans was a poignant sting to end Fordham’s regular season. They will look to rebound quickly as that matchup with La Salle in the A-10s is, at this point, mere hours away.

Fordham Men’s Tennis has been shaky all season, but if there is any time for the Rams to step up, it is now.