The collegiate tennis season can best be analogized as a tense, back-and-forth rally, and Fordham Women’s Tennis began the rally on their back feet, dropping two straight matches. Since then, they’ve regained leverage in the rally with three consecutive wins, re-establishing their dominant standing among Atlantic 10 (A-10) competition.
The team enjoyed a nearly two-week-long break before stepping on the court in Olean, N.Y., to face off with St. Bonaventure University on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 11. In their first taste of A-10 competition against the Bonnies, the Rams reminded their opponents of their identity as reigning conference champs. In doubles, where Fordham struggled mightily in their first three matches, the team swept all three matches without dropping a set.
It was a similar story in singles, where the club took #1-5 singles, headlined by a hard-fought, three-set victory at #1 by graduate student Raffaela Alhach. Alhach dropped the initial set, 4-6, only to bounce back and serve up 7-6 and 6-3 winning sets against St. Bonaventure’s Cirkeline Lundberg. Freshman Cindy Xhou snagged a three-set win at #3 as well, while senior Rose Hu, and freshmen Anlin Xie and Julianne Nguyen each won in straight sets. Behind these efforts, the Rams cruised to a 6-1 win, starting A-10 play 1-0.
A mere 24 hours later, the squad began play against Duquesne University, another A-10 opponent — the match took place at St. Bonaventure’s home courts in Olean, making it a neutral site for the Rams and Dukes. The match was full of unfamiliar foes for each side, with the two squads last facing off in 2018. Historically, Duquesne has bested Fordham in women’s tennis, posting a 13-5 head-to-head all-time record. On Sunday, however, the Rams showed the Dukes that their days of dominion were done with.
However, that wasn’t clear at first. While graduate Demi Jhaveri and junior Lorraine Bergmann took #3 doubles, the Rams lost their other two matches, giving the Dukes the doubles point. Fordham displayed impressive resolve in singles, though, rallying back to seize yet another 6-1 victory. In #1-3 singles, Alhach, Hu and Zhou steamrolled their opponents — not a single player needed a third set to earn the Rams a point. Senior Eleni Fasoula clinched the win for the Rams at #4 singles, giving them their fourth point by way of a 6-0 third-set win over Mila Badics. At #6 singles, Sofie Siem got the Rams another point, triumphing 8-5 in the lone-set matchup.
With the win in hand, Franny Shea gave onlookers a show, turning in one of the performances of the year in #5 singles. She took set one 6-1, only to lose a back-breaker in set two, 7-6. With the momentum in the direction of Duquesne’s Taisia Yakunina, Shea bore down and snatched a 10-7 third-set win.
The now 3-2 Rams (2-0 in conference) will look to keep things rolling this weekend when they travel to Kansas to face Kansas State and Wichita State. These out-of-conference affairs will test Fordham, as both of their opponents boast winning records and will carry a major home-court advantage. While the Rams have their work cut out for them, they’ll enter play in a familiar spot: on top of the A-10 standings.
