This article originally appeared in The Fordham Ram in January 2020.
Fordham Men’s Tennis is trying to live up to the lofty standard it created last season. The Rams went 17-6 in the 2018-19 season, which, despite a loss to Saint Louis in the Atlantic 10 Tournament in April, could be considered a rousing success.
This year’s Rams tried to carry the torch and continue their run of success. This past weekend, the team took a season-opening step towards doing just that.
Fordham opened its spring season with a commanding 6-1 victory over Bucknell University at their home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Fordham was dominant in victory, taking five of the six singles matches and winning the doubles point, as well.
Fordham set the tone for the Sunday afternoon match by pulling out a competitive doubles slate. The tandem of senior Fabian Mauritzson and junior Lutwin de Macar beat Bucknell’s Michael Owen and Guillermo Torres 6-4. The Rams, then, lost the next doubles match 6-3, leading to a winner-take-all third doubles match between Fordham junior Max Green and sophomore Jofre Segarra and Bucknell’s Marwan Abaza and Chunyu Chen. Segarra and Green earned Fordham a much-needed doubles point by taking down their opponents 6-4.
After the opening doubles victory, the Rams never looked back. Segarra, Green and sophomore Finn Kemper won the next three singles matches to seal the victory for Fordham. Bucknell earned its only point when Abaza defeated Mauritzson in the next match after the overall outcome had already been decided. Junior Alex Makatsaria and de Macar won the final two singles matches of the day to hand Fordham a 6-1 victory.
Fordham is off to a great start in the spring of 2020, and the team will look to carry this momentum forward into the rest of the season. The Rams’ next match is this Saturday in Harrison, New York, as Fordham hosts Davidson College. The match starts at 7 p.m.