Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Women's Tennis Hosts Bucknell Invitational
9/17/2009 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 17, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - With the fall tournament season officially underway for women's tennis, the Bison will open their home schedule with the Bucknell Invitational Sept. 18-20. Bucknell will host Duquesne, Hofstra, Loyola (Md.), Mt. St. Mary's and Villanova in the double-elimination tournament at the Bucknell Tennis Courts.
The Bison claimed a trio of victories at last year's invitational. Lauren Lucido (Woodstock, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) won Flight A singles, defeating former teammate Paulina Gamboa 2-6, 6-3, 10-3. The two also paired up for the title in Flight A doubles. Dumitrita Iepuras (Chisinau, Moldova/Germantown Friends School) won Flight B singles.
With the bulk of Bucknell's schedule approaching, below is a more in-depth season outlook:
The Bucknell women's tennis team has gotten comfortable at the top and for good reason. The Bison advanced to its fifth straight Patriot League Championship match in 2008-09, and they see no reason for that streak to end now. The squad returns nine players from last year, including all-league selections Tania Varela (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy) and Lucido.
Bucknell took the end of the season by storm last year. The Orange and Blue won five straight matches in March and April, and finished by taking eight of the last 10. Those two losses came at the hands of Army, and Bucknell will have to solve the Black Knights puzzle if it is going to hoist the Patriot League trophy for the first time in program history.
Although the Bison will spend the early parts of the new season arranging their lineup and deciding on doubles pairings, Rebecca Helt, the women's head coach for the 13th year, is already clear about her prediction for the Bison women in 2009-10.
"I know that the women will get back to the championship match in the spring," said Helt. "Our entire goal is to get over that hump and win it. We're definitely one of the two strongest teams in the conference."
Contributing to that strength is a number of factors, including a wealth of talent across the board and several student-athletes who have proved they have the tools to win on a regular basis.
"We graduated a couple of key players but brought in two that I think are going to be able to step up and help us out a lot," said Helt in reference to recent graduates Gamboa and Ashley Globerman. "We've got solid depth, and we've got probably one of the strongest No. 1 players in the whole conference."
That strong player is Varela who, along with former teammate Gamboa, has earned three selections to the All-Patriot League First Team. She enters her senior season on the cusp of 100 wins and ranks eighth all-time at Bucknell with 97. Varela was an integral part in the Bison's Patriot League run as she went undefeated at No. 1 singles in league play after missing the fall tournament season while studying abroad.
Lucido joined Varela with all-league honors, being named to the second team for the second year. Lucido finished the year with a 22-6 overall record in singles and a 23-6 tally in doubles. The junior's winning percentage was best on the team at .789 and the wins totals ranks pushed her into 12th all-time at Bucknell with 82 victories in her career. That success should continue into the new season as she will continue to occupy the No. 2 singles position.
Coming in strong at second doubles is another senior, Carlin Calcaterra (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central). She went 12-9 last spring, including 11-8 at No. 2, while partnering with five different teammates. The pairing of choice was with Varela, and together they put up the second-best numbers with of any returning Bison with12 wins behind only Lucido. Regardless of who she plays with, Calcaterra is on track to continue with the success that has seen her rise to 11th in career doubles wins (42).
As depth is one of the Bison's strong points, it should come as no surprise that some of the team's so-called support players include a junior in Dara Dwojewski (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendham), who has 47 career singles wins despite spending part of her two seasons injured, and Iepuras, the reigning Patriot League Rookie of the Year. While battling through injuries as a sophomore, Dwojewski still managed a .600 winning percentage, going 12-8 in both singles and doubles. The Bison will look for her to rebound in 2009-10 and continue with her winning habits.
Iepuras became the third Bucknellian to earn the league's top rookie honor, following in teammate's Varela's footsteps. Now a sophomore, Iepuras will aim to build on her outstanding start that resulted in a 23-5 singles record in just her first season in the Orange and Blue.
The remainder of the Bison's roster includes at least one representative from each class. Junior Lauren Rottkamp (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor), like classmate Dwojewski, spent part of last season on injured reserve. She bounced back in the spring after missing the entire fall tournament season to earn double-digit singles wins for a second consecutive season.
Freshmen Jennie Ciotti (Wayne, Pa./Conestoga) and Daria Tuzhikova (Minsk, Belarus/Gymnasium No. 7), sophomore Courtney Casey (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Visitation) and senior Kirstyn Sotak (Shaker Heights, Ohio/Hathaway Brown) will also be key to the Bison maintaining the depth necessary to compete at the highest level. Casey and Sotak played key back-up roles in the fall, combining for six singles and five doubles wins in the early-season tournaments. Helt also expects the newcomers Ciotti and Tuzhikova to step into the lineup and be a big help to their new team.
