This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in November 2019.
Fordham Squash looked to replicate its success from this past weekend at the Navy Round Robin held in Annapolis, Md.
The team saw mixed results.
The weekend did not start overly well for Fordham. The Rams were swept 8–0 by Navy in the first match on Friday. Navy didn’t even concede a set to the Rams, as the Midshipmen took every individual match in three sets.
Fordham didn’t fare much better in the first match on Saturday afternoon. Fordham’s second match against Haverford went very similar to its first against Navy, as junior Justin Deckoff was the only Ram to win his individual match. At a quick 0–2 on the weekend, head coach Sahel Anwar’s team needed to respond to salvage what had been, to that point, an unsuccessful weekend.
Fordham, as it has each of the past three years, did just that.
It started with a 9–0 sweep of Boston University to get Fordham on the board with its first win of the weekend. Fordham was able to win its first eight individual matches in straight sets and took the ninth by default since there was no Boston player to participate in it. In the final match on Saturday, Fordham looked like it was going to get a tough test from Lehigh; the Mountain Hawks’ Max Fern and P.J. Walsh defeated Fordham sophomores Patrick Rodden and Jack Reed, respectively. With the match tied at two, Fordham climbed into second gear as junior Tommy White, freshman Jacob Bennett, Deckoff, sophomore Dylan Panichello and freshman Caleb Schumacher all won their individual matches. Four of those five Fordham players won in straight sets. In a match like this, Fordham’s depth and overall talent shined, especially in the second half of the lineup.
In the span of a couple of hours, Fordham went from struggling to thriving. On Sunday, the Rams looked to go above .500 and finish off the weekend with a win over Georgetown.
Sunday’s match got off to an inauspicious start, as senior William Douglass fell to Georgetown’s Brando Sodi in three sets, putting Fordham in an early hole. After that, though, the Rams ripped off seven straight wins, highlighted by Bennett’s come-from-behind victory over Georgetown’s Max Sodi in five sets. Bennett lost the first two sets before winning the next three to preserve Fordham’s momentum. His win and Fordham’s others were plenty for the Rams to escape the Navy Round Robin with what can be considered a successful weekend, winning three out of five matches.
Fordham is back in action this coming Friday. The Rams will take on Stanford at 1 p.m. before hosting California and Northeastern on Saturday. All three matches will be held on the Lombardi Squash courts on Fordham’s campus.