BRONX, N.Y. – The Saint Joseph's men's tennis team wrapped up its regular season on Saturday, falling in a heartbreaker, 4-3, at Fordham.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Hawks got off on the right foot, taking the doubles points with wins in the first and third flights.  Othman Bezzaz and Ernesto Ruy were 6-3 winners in the first, while Justus Agbo and Stergios Achilleas Papadopoulos grabbed a 6-4 result in the third.
 
• Fordham nosed ahead with wins in the third and fourth singles flights, but Ruy rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 win in the second to get the Hawks back on level terms.
 
• The Rams went ahead with a win in the fifth, but Agbo outlasted his first-flight opponent, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) to equalize once again.  Unfortunately for the Crimson and Gray, the hosts finished off a three-set win in the sixth to secure the match.
 
HAWK TALK
"Tough loss today," head coach Jeff Puhan said.  "We had a strong start to win the doubles point.  The guys battled hard in singles play, and we put ourselves in position to pull this out.  Great effort today, and now we'll get ready for A-10s next week."
 
UP NEXT
The Hawks will await their seeding for the Atlantic 10 Championship, which opens on Thursday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
 
RESULTS
 
Fordham 4, Saint Joseph's 3
 
Doubles
1. Othman Bezzaz / Ernesto Ruy (SJU) def. Nicholas Kanazirev / Dhillon Virdee-Oakley (FOR), 6-3
2. John Mascone / Giorgio Soemarno (FOR) def. John Butler / Eli Gan-Dy (SJU), 6-3
3. Justus Agbo / Stergios Achilleas Papadopoulos (SJU) def. Bingru Chen / Stefan Stojanovic (FOR), 6-4
 
Singles
1. Agbo (SJU) def. Kanazirev (FOR), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5)
2. Ruy (SJU) def. Soemarno (FOR), 6-2, 6-3
3. Virdee-Oakley (FOR) def. Bezzaz (SJU), 6-3, 6-3
4. Mascone (FOR) def. Papadopoulos (SJU), 6-1, 6-1
5. Stojanovic (FOR) def. Jack Campbell (SJU), 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (3)
6. Stephan Mozhaev (FOR) def. Gan-Dy (SJU), 6-7 (1), 7-5, 6-4