Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Tennis Hosts Bucknell Invitational for Final Fall Home Tournament
9/30/2010 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 30, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bison men's and women's tennis will host their final home event of the fall as they welcome a quartet of opponents for the Bucknell Invitational Friday-Sunday, Oct. 1-3. Challenging the Bison at the Varsity Tennis Courts this weekend will be Colgate, Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson and George Mason. Play on Friday at the teams' first and only joint tournament begins at 3 p.m.
WOMEN'S NOTEBOOK
- Bucknell sent a pair of doubles teams to the quarterfinals at last weekend's Eastern Championships in West Point, N.Y. Dumitrita Iepuras (Chisinau, Moldova/Germantown Friends School) and Elena Vidrascu (Rochester, N.Y./Pittsford Sutherland) collected their first wins together before falling in Flight A. Courtney Casey (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Visitation) and Lauren Rottkamp (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) went 1-1 at the tournament after a first round bye. The duo lost to the eventual champions and fourth seed, Mimi Bell and Jenn Newman of Amherst.
- Highlighting singles action at West Point was an upset by Daria Tuzhikova (Minsk, Belarus/Gymnasium No. 7). The sophomore knocked out No. 7 Margaret Iliev of Army, 8-3 in the consolation rounds.
- No Bison has yet to make a major move in singles. Vidrascu leads the squad with four wins, while Casey, Iepuras, Lauren Lucido (Woodstock, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls), Elizabeth Morgan (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's-Belfield School), and Tuzhikova each have three.
- After two weeks of play, the women's squad has amassed a 33-26 (.559) record. That includes a 24-18 tally in singles and a 9-8 record in doubles.
- After going 2-2 in singles last weekend, Lucido brought her career record to 67-29, keeping her in sixth place all-time at Bucknell. The senior's career combined record is now 136-51, ranking her fifth. Iepuras also broke into the top 15 in all-time combined wins with a 72-34 career tally.
- Six Bison enter the weekend with winning career records. Leading the way Lucido at 136-51 (.727). She is followed by Iepuras at 72-34 (.679), Vidrascu at 6-3 (.667) and Tuzhikova at 30-20 (.600). After just over two seasons, Casey has a combined career record of 30-26 (.536), while senior Rottkamp is at 44-37 (.543).
- The Bison sent three singles players to the finals at last year's Bucknell Invitational. Iepuras was the only one to claim an individual title, however, as she defeated Connecticut's Abby McKeon 6-0, 6-4. Dara Dwojewski (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendham) and Iepuras also posted the team's best doubles effort, advancing to the semifinals.
MEN'S NOTEBOOK
- Bucknell posted some strong results at last weekend's UConn Invitational in Storrs, Conn. Five singles players made it to the semifinals or better, including freshmen Scott Bernstein (Westfield, N.J./Westfield) and Kyle Rosen (Armonk, N.Y./Byram Hills) and sophomores Kelly Morque (Rye, N.Y./Rye), Evan Zimmer (Essex Fells, N.J./West Essex) and Josh Katten (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview JFK). Zimmer fell in three sets in the Flight B final. Bernstein and Morque were scheduled to meet in the Flight C final before darkness forced the match to be moved to back to Lewisburg. Rain has since kept the match from being played.
- The Flight C singles final will be Bernstein's second chance at a UConn Invitational title. He also paired with Rosen in doubles at the tournament where the duo defeated teammates Gregg Cohenca (Purchase, N.Y./Rye Country Day School) and Mark Malloy (Bronxville, N.Y./Hackley School) for the championship. Bernstein and Rosen are 6-1 in doubles together on the season. They were also the runners-up in the Mood Draw at the Northeast Intercollegiate two weeks ago.
- Bernstein leads all Bison with 12 combined wins on the year. After two tournaments, he is 6-0 in singles and 6-1 in doubles. - Malloy has made quite a splash since returning to the team this season. The senior, who missed all of last year after studying abroad in the fall and suffering a health scare in the spring, advanced to the singles finals two weeks ago at the Northeast Intercollegiate. He followed that performance with a finals appearance in doubles last weekend.
- Malloy's and Cohenca's doubles success last weekend moved them both up the all-time ranks at Bucknell. Malloy is now tied for 13th with a career record of 42-27, while Cohenca is tied for 22nd at 31-29. Malloy is also approaching 100 combined victories. His 91-46 tally ranks him 11th all-time.
- Anton Kovic (Montreal, Quebec/Milton Academy (Mass.)) reached a career milestone in doubles after going 1-1 with Morque at the UConn Invitational. The senior has amassed 50 career victories, tying him for sixth all-time in program annals.
- The Bison earned three spots in the semifinals of last year's Bucknell Invitational. Morque qualified in the Flight B singles before falling to Fairleigh Dickinson's Mark Hemmy. The Bison also set two doubles teams in Kovic and Cohenca as well as Morque and Katten. Both lost their matches by an 8-6 decision.
LOOKING AHEAD
The next time the teams take to the courts will be for the ITA Regionals. The men's tournament will run Oct. 14-18 in Charlottesville, Va., while the women will compete Oct. 21-24 in Norfolk, Va. The Bison's final home event of the fall - the Bucknell Round Robin - originally scheduled for Oct. 8-10 has been canceled.
