Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Tennis Opens Season on Friday in New Jersey
2/10/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Feb. 10, 2004
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Last year was a difficult one for the Bucknell men's tennis team, but the 2003-04 Bison will look to use last year's hardships to improve and return to the success it usually enjoys.
Coach Rebecca Helt feels that the Bison will have just the personnel to make that transition this season.
"Five of last year's starters are back, and we're looking to some of the incoming freshmen, including Matt Kutner, Brian Cohen, and Matt Pikus, to help us out this year. Joe Menezes, Gerald DiChiara, and Aaron Saperstein have all improved," Helt said.
The team will have no seniors this year, following the loss of only one last year, and just three experienced juniors to anchor the program.
Bucknell men's tennis will be captained by junior Nick Denefrio, who is on pace to move onto the all-time lists for singles and total victories this season, made his way onto the doubles list with an impressive 27 victories. Alongside freshman Matt Pikus, Denefrio tallied a 5-2 doubles record this fall, including a 4-0 record in dual matches. Fellow junior and New Yorker Gerald DiChiara, who used a breakout freshman season to start him on a path into Bucknell tennis lore, is already halfway to the all-time singles win record and two thirds of the way to the doubles record.
"Gerald is moving up in the lineup quite a bit," Helt said. "I think it's going to be a strong front six."
Other candidates to fill prominent roles in that lineup include junior Joe Menezes, who posted the team's best singles record (8-2) in the fall. Asher Salam, who filled the three role last year, faced some action at the second spot this fall. Aaron Saperstein, who played mostly at the sixth spot in 2002-03, worked hard through the fall and should be an important contributor in 2004.
Players who did not see much action last year, in addition to a host of incoming freshmen, will also compete for playing time. Don Whaley is a sophomore who trained at the Van Der Meer Tennis Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Coach Helt plans to gain the most from the freshmen in the doubles side of the Bison's matches this season in order for them to gain valuable experience for the future. Bucknell's latest class includes Cohen, from Potomac, Md., as well as Pikus, from Medford, N.J., Kutner, from Franklin Lakes, N.J., and Wes Madara from Dublin, Ohio.
Bucknell's spring schedule includes six dual home matches, three of them being league competitions (Colgate, American, Navy) and three non-league contests (Mount St. Mary's, UMBC, Binghamton). On the road, Bucknell will face conference foes Lehigh, Lafayette, and Army, and play Bloomsburg and Towson in non-conference dual contests. In addition to the College of New Jersey Tournament, which kicks off this Friday, the Bison will vie to compete in the Patriot League Championship, which takes the league's top four teams, April 24-25 at the league's highest seed.
