April 12, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell tennis heads into its final weeks of the season, hosting Robert Morris at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The match will be the last tune-up for the women's squad before heading to the Patriot League Tournament, but the men will continue with their schedule on Wednesday, traveling to Lehigh for a 3 p.m. match in Bethlehem, Pa.
MEN'S NOTEBOOK
Bucknell went 1-1 last week with a 4-3 win over Lafayette on Sunday. Friday's match proved to be less successful as the Bison fell 4-3 at Army.
Gregg Cohenca (Purchase, N.Y./Rye Country Day School) kept his singles winning streak alive last week. With victories over Army's Chris Albornoz and Lafayette's Steven Benezra, Cohenca has won his last four matches. Evan Zimmer (Essex Fells, N.J./West Essex) is 5-0 in his latest matches. The freshman has not lost in singles since Feb. 20.
Anton Kovic (Montreal, Quebec/Milton Academy (Mass.)) is moving up in the Bucknell record books. The junior now ranks tied for ninth with former teammate Daniel Bednarek in career doubles wins (46-47). He is also tied for 18th in career combined victories at 73-81.
Cohenca is trying to break onto the list of top doubles players at Bucknell. The sophomore is 24-25 in doubles and needs just four more wins to tie for 26th all-time at the university.
Robert Morris comes to Lewisburg with a 3-16 record overall. The Colonials' Andre Coiro leads the team in singles action this spring, posting a 7-12 record. Igor Neves and David Pinto are 6-10 together at doubles, making them the team's top duo in dual play.
Bucknell is 5-0 all-time against Robert Morris. The Bison came away with the 6-1 in when the teams last met in 2008. Only a loss at No. 4 singles kept Bucknell from the sweep.
Lehigh hosts Bucknell with an 8-10 record overall and 1-3 in the Patriot League. Troy List is the only Mountain Hawk with double-digit wins in singles at 11-7 this spring. List and Collin Laffey also have reached double figures in doubles victories at 10-7.
Bucknell is 36-37 in the all-time series with Lehigh. The series is one of the oldest in program history having started in 1921. The Bison won both meetings last season, first by a score of 6-1 in the regular season and then 4-2 in the Patriot League Tournament. The difference proved to be doubles action. Bucknell took two of three matches in the first contest, but managed just one doubles win against Lehigh later in the season.
WOMEN'S NOTEBOOK
Bucknell defeated Lehigh 6-1 last Thursday but had its winning streak interrupted with a tight 4-3 loss to Army over the weekend. The Bison had a good look at the victory against the Black Knights. Bucknell won only one doubles match but lost the others by close scores of 9-8 and 8-6. Bucknell finished out its three-match schedule last week with a 7-0 win over Lafayette.
The Bison might have seen their seven-match winning streak come to an end, but Tania Varela (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy) and Lauren Lucido (Woodstock, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) maintained their successful stretch at doubles. The duo is now 15-0 in its last handful of matches. One more victory together will tie them with Veronica Brown and Nada Curcic for the longest doubles winning streak since at least 1993.
Varela also held onto her singles streak and improved it to 14 straight wins. She is not the only Bison to continue her singles streak, however. Lucido has won her last nine, Lauren Rottkamp (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) has been the victor in her last eight, while Courtney Casey (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Visitation) has won her last four matches.
Varela stayed at fifth on the list of all-time singles wins at Bucknell, but several of her teammates moved up the ranks last week. Dumitrita Iepuras (Chisinau, Moldova/Germantown Friends School) is now tied for 13th (44-15) and Rottkamp is tied for 19th (34-23). Lucido improved to fifth in doubles play (64-21) and sixth in combined victories (124-46). Dara Dwojewski (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendham) also broke into the top 25 in combined wins for the first time. The junior is 56-58 in her career.
Dwojewski had a successful return to the court after missing nearly a month. She went 2-1 in singles action with wins over opponents from Lehigh and Lafayette after having been gone from the courts since March 15.
Robert Morris is 2-16 this season. Samantha Alves leads the Colonials in singles this year at 8-13. She and Clarissa Chen have teamed up for a 4-14 record in doubles, marking the highest wins total for a Colonial duo this year.
Bucknell won its only meeting with Robert Morris, a 7-0 victory in 2007. Every match was decided in straight sets three years ago.
LOOKING AHEAD
After taking on Robert Morris, the next time the women's team is on the court will be at the Patriot League Tournament. The league finale is slated for April 16-18 in Hamilton, N.Y. The men's next contest will be Bloomsburg on April 21. Both squads' Senior Day celebrations have been moved to April 21.
