By Alexandra Sedlak
On the day of the Super Bowl, while everyone was wondering whether the Patriots or the Falcons would win, Fordham Men’s Tennis travelled to Jersey City to play a match against Saint Peter’s University. They played a total of three doubles matches and six singles matches at the Yanitelli Center. This was a victorious day for Fordham, and their first win of the spring season, as they defeated Saint Peter’s 6-1.
Fordham obtained the sole doubles point, with two teams winning and one team in the lead when the game was halted. Freshman Steven Duka and junior Joseph Kavaloski won their doubles set against Saint Peter’s Ivan Knezevic and Jonathan Paredes with a score of 6-2. The team of sophomore Victor Li and freshman Jeremy Chung won 6-2 as well against Saint Peter’s Douglas Nover and Gabriel Russotto. Finally, senior Tomas Cosmai and freshman Allen Thornes were winning their set 4-3 against Saint Peter’s Jorge Rodriguez and Andres Rojas when the match was stopped due to the two previous doubles wins.
Fordham won five of the six singles matches, giving the Rams another five points. Senior Tomas Cosmai played first singles, defeating Saint Peter’s Jorge Rodriguez with a close score of 6-4, 7-6 (3). Second singles was played by freshman Fabian Mauritzson, who won his match against Saint Peter’s Andres Rojas with a score of 6-3, 7-5. Senior Nick Borak took the third singles position win with a score of 6-4, 6-3 against Saint Peter’s Ivan Knezevic. Freshman Allen Thornes, who was fourth singles, fought hard for his match, making it a very close score. Ultimately, he lost to Saint Peter’s Douglas Nover, with a final score of 6 (7)-7, 4-6. Fifth singles, played by freshman Steven Duka, scored a point for Fordham, winning 6-3, 6-4 against Saint Peter’s Gabriel Russotto. Finally, in the sixth singles position, junior Joseph Kavaloski defeated Saint Peter’s Cuong Lam with a score of 6-3, 6-1. In the end, this gave Fordham a score of six and Saint Peter’s a score of one.
“It was a good win for us to prepare and build match toughness as we have a number of important matches coming up in the next few weeks,” said Kavaloski.
The Rams are satisfied with their performance this past weekend. They learned from last week and were able to put all of their energy and focus into preparing for this weekend’s match. The fact that they came out as victors with a sweeping final score shows just how hard they have worked and practiced and how determined they are to keep moving forward as a team.
The tennis team will play again next weekend against La Salle University. They’ll be hosting the tournament at Life Time Athletic in Harrison, NY on Feb. 11.
