Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men's Tennis Gears Up for Patriot League Tournament
4/20/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
April 20, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Bucknell men's tennis team will open play at the 2007 Patriot League Championships starting on Saturday, Apr. 21, at the USNA Courts in Annapolis, Md., at Navy. The Bison, 9-12 (2-3 PL), earned the No. 4 seed and will play No. 5 seed Lehigh in the opening round of the tournament at 8 a.m. The winner of the match will battle No. 1 seed Navy on Sunday, Apr. 22, at 10 a.m. in the semifinals. Also in the first round, No. 2 seed Army will face No. 7 seed Holy Cross, while No. 3 seed Colgate will battle No. 6 seed Lafayette. The championship match will be held on Monday, Apr. 23.
During the regular season, the Bison squeaked past the Mountain Hawks with a 4-3 victory. Lehigh earned the doubles point and proceeded to win the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches. But the Orange and Blue rallied back to win the last four singles matches to win their first Patriot League match of the season after dropping the previous three matches to Navy, Army and Colgate.
Bucknell, which is looking to win its first Patriot League Championship since 1991, will be led by junior Ira Reibeisen (Armonk, N.Y./Rye Country Day-Upper). Reibeisen has played in the No. 1 spot all season and has accumulated a record of 12-7 this spring. The junior is one victory shy of 100 for his career. He currently sits fourth all-time in career victories at Bucknell and is just eight shy of becoming the all-time leader. The 2006 First Team All-Patriot League member has 57 singles victories and needs four more to become the school's all-time leader in career singles wins.
Sophomore Ryan Sandburg (Orange, Calif./Canyon) has an 8-13 record playing mainly in the No. 2 spot. The Orange, Calif., native currently sits 16th in career victories at Bucknell with 68. Freshman Zach Hascoe (Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick) has posted a 10-10 tally this spring while playing in the No. 3 and No. 4 spots of the Bison lineup.
Sophomores Jonathan Brenner (Manhasset, N.Y./Chaminade) improved on his 6-6 record from a season ago with a 10-10 mark this spring while playing in the No. 2 thru the No. 5 spots. After going winless a season ago, sophomore Daniel Bednarek (Haworth, N.J./Bergen Catholic) has a 10-10 mark this season while playing in the No. 5 and No. 6 spots. While playing in the No. 3 thru the No. 6 spots, junior Ben Young has notched a record of 6-9. For his career, Young has 60 wins, which ranks him in the top 25.
In doubles, Brenner and Sandburg teamed together to produce a team-best 13 victories playing in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. They bring a three-match winning streak into the tournament. Reibeisen and Young have paired together to post a 9-6 mark while also playing in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots. Bednarek and Hascoe notched a 9-4 record this spring, all coming in the No. 3 spot. They have a team-best 4-1 record in the Patriot League.
The winner of the 2007 Patriot League Championship earns an automatic bid for the 2007 NCAA Tennis Championships starting on May 11.
