The Fordham squash team was forced to deal with some early adversity to kick off 2020. After a strong start to the season in November and December, the Rams dropped four matches in a row between Jan. 14-19, all of which were at home. Fordham was without some of its best players, and the team simply could not get its entire roster healthy at the same time.

Last weekend though, the Rams righted the ship, both with the health of their star players and the team’s fortunes.

Fordham defeated Bucknell 8-1 last Saturday at the Lombardi Squash Courts on the Rose Hill campus. Junior Griffin Fitzgerald — one of the Fordham players who was in-and-out of action the week before — won the first individual match over Bucknell’s Delancey McFadden, who, ironically, retired before a potential fifth set against Fitzgerald. In the next match, junior Tommy White fell to Bucknell’s Riggs Johnson to tie the match at one apiece. From there, though, the rout was on.

The Rams took their next seven individual matches to close the day with a much-needed 8-1 victory over Bucknell. Senior Bruce Czachor, junior Justin Deckoff, sophomore Jack Reed and freshman Justin George won the next four matches to clinch the victory for Fordham. No match after the first two went longer than four sets. On Saturday, Fordham returned to the form we knew it was capable of, but did not get to see while the team was going through injury.

With the win, the Rams moved to 15-9 on the season with just a handful of matches to play. With the season entering its final month, the story of Fordham’s year and its best players is beginning to take shape. Freshman Caleb Schumacher moved to 16-6 with his victory on Saturday, and the first-year player is tied with Deckoff for the best record of any Fordham player. Another freshman, Justin George — who Fordham head coach Sahel Anwar said would “really help our team” back in October — sits at 12-5. Other standouts for the Rams include freshman Jacob Bennett (15-9), Fitzgerald (15-7) and sophomore Dylan Panichello (14-6).

Fordham’s next matches are at home this Saturday against NYU, Boston University and Siena. The Rams are in the midst of a rare eight-game home stretch to cap off their regular season before the CSA (College Squash Association) Championships commence on Feb. 28.