Bucknell University Athletics
Third-Seeded Bucknell Women's Tennis Eyes Lafayette in Patriot League Tournament on Friday
4/21/2011 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 21, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. – After six months of matches, Bucknell women's tennis is finally at the main event, taking on sixth-seeded Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals at 1 p.m. on Friday in Annapolis, Md. The Bison (9-10, 3-2) are looking for their seventh consecutive trip to the championship match, which will be played on Sunday. Action for all three rounds will be at the Brigade Sports Complex near the Naval Academy Golf Course.
ABOUT THE BISON
- When No. 3 Bucknell gets on the court against Lafayette, it will end a 10-day layoff for the Bison. Each of Bucknell's last three matches – Robert Morris, Georgetown and Bloomsburg – was canceled due to rain, making a 7-0 sweep over Lehigh on April 12 their last competition.
- With her two wins against the Mountain Hawks, Lauren Lucido (Woodstock, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) drew even closer to becoming Bucknell's all-time leader in singles and doubles victories. The senior now needs just one more win in each to tie the current record holders, Tanya Sichko (86-40) in singles and Veronica Brown (82-42) in doubles. Lucido is already the program's all-time leader in total wins with a 166-71 career record.
- Courtney Casey (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Visitation) moved up the record lists with two wins against Lehigh as well. The junior is now tied with teammate Lauren Rottkamp (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) for 29th in program annals with a total career record of 53-50. At 25-30 in her doubles career, Casey needs just one more victory to crack the top 25.
- Three Bison are in battling it out for the team lead in doubles matches this year. Dara Dwojewski (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendham), Lucido and Elena Vidrascu (Rochester, N.Y./Sutherland) are all 14-14. Next in line is Dumitrita Iepuras (Chisinau, Moldova/Germantown Friends School) and Daria Tuzhikova (Minsk, Belarus/Gymnasium No. 7), who each have 12 doubles wins this season.
- Dwojewski and Vidrascu could end the season sharing that team lead in doubles wins. The duo has played together in each of the last 15 matches and at 10-5 has emerged as the only tandem with double-digit wins this season.
- Bucknell has gotten most of its singles wins at the top and the bottom of the lineup. The only Bison to play at the No. 1 position, Lucido is 14-5 in duals. The Bison are also 10-9 at both No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Vidrascu has the most victories (6-2) at fifth singles, while Casey, Dwojewski and Tuzhikvoa have also spent time at the spot. Dwojewski is the leading Bucknellian at No. 6 with a 10-4 record. She has shared the position with Elizabeth Morgan (Charlottesville, Va./St. Anne's-Belfield School).
- With an overall team record of 9-10 this season, Bucknell is looking for its third straight season with double-figure victories. The Bison finished 15-7 in 2009 and 14-7 in 2010.
ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT
- Bucknell is 15-14 in the Patriot League Tournament since 1994 when the league switched to a team-oriented format. Eleven of those losses have come against Army.
- The Bison claimed the tournament title in 1994, which was also the only season in which they entered as the No. 1 seed. Including this season, Bucknell has been seeded third or higher nine times.
- Bucknell has advanced to the championship match every year since 2005 and has been eliminated by Army each time. The Black Knights are responsible for knocking the Bison out of the tournament every year since 2001 with the exception of 2002 and 2004 when Bucknell did not qualify for the postseason.
- About No. 1 Army: The Black Knights are 21-7 overall and went 5-0 in the Patriot League. They have won their last seven matches, which includes 7-0 decisions over each of their league foes – Holy Cross, Lafayette, Bucknell, Colgate and Lehigh. Army's sweep was its first against Bucknell since 2006.
- About No. 2 Navy: The Midshipmen closed out the regular season 20-9 overall and 3-0 in the Patriot League. They have also won each of their last seven matches, including 6-1 over both Colgate and Bucknell and 7-0 over Lehigh. Despite the lopsided score against the Bison, Bucknell played the Navy close in the regular season. Lucido and Iepuras won at No. 1 doubles, while Lucido defeated Amanda Griffin at first singles, 6-2, 6-4. Ieupras, Casey and Vidrascu each went three sets against their opponents as well.
- About No. 4 Lehigh: The Mountain Hawks went 6-12 in the regular season with a 3-3 mark in the Patriot League. They have won five of their last eight outings. Wins in league play came against Holy Cross (7-0), Colgate (4-2) and Lafayette (4-3), while losses came at the hands of Navy (7-0), Bucknell (7-0) and Army (7-0). Bucknell took down Lehigh easily in the regular season, sweeping the doubles matches and winning five of six singles matches in straight sets. The closest match came at No. 5 singles where Vidrascu defeated Abbey Pearl 3-6, 6-1, (10-5).
- About No. 5 Colgate: The Raiders are 4-13 overall and 1-4 in the Patriot League. They have lost nine of their last 10 matches with the lone victory in that stretch coming 6-1 over Lafayette. Colgate lost 6-1 to both Navy and Bucknell, 4-2 to Lehigh and 7-0 to Army earlier this year. When the Bison and Raiders met in the regular season, Lucido broke the program record for total career victories thanks to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Stephanie Bender. Iepuras, Rottkamp and Vidrascu all went three sets in their wins in the middle of the singles lineup.
- About No. 6 Lafayette: The Leopards are 3-6 overall and 1-4 in the Patriot League this year. A 7-0 win against Wagner makes them 1-3 in their last four matches. Lafayette's lone league victory came in a sweep over Holy Cross earlier in the season. Bucknell cruised past Lafayette in the regular season, winning 7-0. The Bison allowed just six total games to the Leopards in singles play. Lucido and Vidrascu both won their matches 6-0, 6-0.
- About No. 7 Holy Cross: The Crusaders are 2-12 on the year and finished 0-3 in the Patriot League. They started the season with 11 straight losses before defeating Springfield (5-4) and Clark (4-3) back-to-back. All three league losses came 7-0 to Lafayette, Army and Lehigh. Bucknell and Holy Cross last met in 2007 in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. The Bison, which are 10-0 in the all-time series against the Crusaders, advanced with a 7-0 win.
PATRIOT LEAGUE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday, April 22
- 10 a.m.: Navy vs. Holy Cross
- 1 p.m.: Bucknell vs. Lafayette
- 3 p.m.: Lehigh vs. Colgate
Saturday, April 23
- 10 a.m.: Bucknell/Lafayette vs. Navy/Holy Cross
- 2 p.m.: Army vs. Lehigh/Colgate
Sunday, April 24
- 1 p.m.: Championship Match
