Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Tennis Hits New York State Looking for First Spring Victories
1/28/2010 7:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 28, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell tennis will travel to New York this weekend as the women's team competes at the Cornell Invitational in Ithaca and the men face St. John's in Queens. Tournament play at Cornell begins Friday and runs through Sunday, while the men's dual with St. John's is slated for 5 p.m. on Saturday.
WOMEN'S NOTEBOOK
- The Bison last competed at the Cornell Invitational in 2008. Lauren Lucido (Woodstock, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) and Tania Varela (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy) advanced to the semifinals of the Flight A doubles. The duo received a first round bye before defeating the team from Binghamton and falling to Cornell. Renee Weissend also earned a win in Flight C singles, defeating the Binghamton player in the first round.
- Bucknell faced some stiff competition in its spring opener and fell 6-1 to Penn State for the second consecutive year. The Bison's all-time record against the Nittany Lions is now 0-14.
- Carlin Calcaterra (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) earned the Bison's lone point against Penn State. The senior defeated Stephanie Tarle (6-1, 6-1) at No. 6 singles. Daria Tuzhikova (Minsk, Belarus/Gymnasium No. 7) and Dumitrita Iepuras (Chisinau, Moldova/Germantown Friends School) also teamed up for a win at No. 3 doubles, defeating Maria Prishlyak and Sarah Henderson 8-3.
- Iepuras and Tuzhikova's victory came despite competing together in doubles for the first time. Both players were .500 in doubles in the fall while taking the court with other partners.
- Six Bison have posted career winning percentages of .500 or better. Iepuras leads the group at .719 (41-16). In less than two years in the Orange and Blue, Iepuras is 34-8 at singles. Also tallying winning records are Liz Larkin (Blue Bell, Pa./Germantown Academy) (.618), Lucido (.681), Lauren Rottkamp (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) (.500), Tuzhikova (.571) and Varela (.677).
MEN'S NOTEBOOK
- The Bison men will travel to New York as well to take on St. John's. The teams have met only once, in 1938. Bucknell was the victor in that contest,
sweeping the Red Storm 9-0. The 1938 Bison finished the season 10-0 as a team. - Bucknell dropped its spring opener at Penn last Saturday, 6-1. The Bison are now 0-2 all-time against the Quakers.
- Josh Katten (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview) won his No. 6 singles match to give Bucknell its point. The freshman was leading 5-2 in the first before his opponent retired. Katten also had a hand in the Bison's other win as he and Clark Bogle (Hingham, Mass./Thayer Academy) came out on top of their No. 3 doubles match, 8-4, over Jeff Karsh and Zach Gorn.
- With his two wins last weekend, Katten improved his record to 15-6 this year, including 9-4 at singles and 6-2 at doubles.
- Zach Hascoe (Greenwich, Conn./Brunswick) saw his first action of the year at No. 5 singles. It was the senior's first match back after missing much of the last year with an injury. Hascoe ranks 10th all-time at Bucknell in total victories (89-58).
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bucknell women's squad will return to dual competition when it hosts Pittsburgh on Saturday, Feb. 13. The men's squad will try its hand at Penn State on Sunday, Feb. 14 at University Park, Pa.
