By Tom Terzulli
The Rams tennis team struggled on Long Island this past weekend. Samuel Joseph/The Fordham Ram
The men’s tennis team began tournament play by traveling to Long Island to participate in the Hofstra University Invitational on Friday, Sept. 25, and Saturday, Sept. 26th. Spirits were high for the team coming off a very impressive opening weekend, where it won two matches on the road over Siena and Rider. The good feeling did not translate to the opening tournament, as the team struggled to advance from the early stages in both singles and doubles competition.
Play began in the singles A flight in which Fordham was represented by senior Pedro Alonzo and sophomore Joseph Kavaloski, a pair who was successful in doubles competition in the Rams’ season opening victory against Siena. That success did not translate, however as both failed to advance past the opening Round of 16. Alonzo fell to the flight’s eventual champion, Stony Brook’s Sam Taieb (8-1), and Kavaloski was trounced by Wagner’s Juan Alanis (8-2).
The struggles continued in the B flight with two more Fordham representatives falling in the opening round. Sophomore Joey Brander lost his first singles match of the young season when he was thwarted by Seba Rojas of St. Peter’s (8-1). It was the same situation for freshman Nikolaj Borak, who was handed his first singles loss by NYIT’s Tomas Lieb (8-3).
The C flight was the only section of the bracket in which the Rams had just one representative, and the results were much of the same. Sophomore Cameron Poscillico was the first Ram to advance past the opening round, but it was through an opening round bye and not a victory. Poscillico lost what was his first match of the tournament to NYIT’s Alex Martinez (8-2) in the quarterfinals.
The lone bright spot for Fordham was the play of sophomore Harris Durkovic in the D flight. Durkovic was the only Ram to advance past the Round of 16 without a bye. He secured Fordham’s first win of the tournament with an (8-3) defeat of Saint Peters’ Justin Sinprasith. His success did not stop there as Durkovic advanced to the semi-finals and defied home-court advantage when he drubbed Hofstra’s Kevin Devine (8-2). One win away from the championship match, Durkovic’s run came to an end at the hands of Wagner’s Allen Wang, who would go on to lose in the title match. The Rams’ other representative in the flight was much more indicative of how the rest of the day went. Freshman Chris Caroli was bounced by Kevin Huynh of NYIT (8-2) in the Round of 16.
The team hoped to avenge their singles performance in double’s play. Unfortunately, the struggles from the singles portion seemed to carry over, with all three Ram doubles teams losing in the opening round. In the A flight, the team of Alonzo and Kavaloski succumbed to home court advantage, falling in a close matchup (7-6) to the Hofstra duo of Niko Vulinovich and Gustav Akesson, the eventual A flight champs. In B flight action, the Rams were handed their worst loss in double’s competition. Durkovic could not recapture his magic from the singles portion, as he and Brander were thrashed by the FDU duo of Adam Chan and Kiran Mani (6-1). Finally, in the C flight, the pair of Borak and Posillico was defeated by the Wagner team of Wang and Jakob Mostyn-Kolb (6-4).
Some other positives for Fordham came in the singles consolation brackets, with two Rams advancing past the first round without a bye. The two were Kavaloski in the A flight and Poscillico in the C flight. Kavaloski trounced Hofstra’s Marcus Smith (8-6) to advance to the semifinals, where he would fall to Jorge Rodriguez of Saint Peter’s (9-7). Poscillico advanced with a close (9-8) rout of Saint Peters’ Gabe Russotto, before his run came to an end by Kenzo Kauffman of Stony Brook (8-2). There was another Ram that advanced past the opening round in Caroli, but it was by default, and he was bounced (8-4) in the semifinals. Every other loss came in the opening round, namely: Alonzo in the A flight (8-3), Brander (8-1) and Borak (8-2) in the B flight.
The Rams have a chance to avenge their performance next weekend (Oct. 2-4), when they travel to Hamden, Connecticut for the Quinnipiac Invitational.
