Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Women's Tennis Welcomes Patriot League Foes Army, Lafayette this Weekend
4/8/2011 8:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 8, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell women's tennis heads down the homestretch with a pair of weekend matches starting with defending Patriot League champion Army at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The Bison will follow that up with Lafayette at 2 p.m. on Sunday when they recognize Dara Dwojewski (Chester, N.J./West Morris Mendham), Lauren Lucido (Woodstock, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) and Lauren Rottkamp (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y./Cold Spring Harbor) for Senior Day prior to the match. Both bouts will take place at the Bucknell Varsity Tennis Courts.
ABOUT THE BISON
- Thanks to Lucido, Bucknell has gathered a handful of awards since it played last. Lucido was named the Susquehanna Valley Limousine Bison Athlete of the Week on Monday, followed by the Patriot League Player of the Month for March on Thursday. The senior broke the program record for total victories (162) with her straight-sets win over Colgate on April 2.
- Lucido's recent success gave the Bison a pair of victories last week. Bucknell defeated Villanova 7-0 before heading up to Colgate for a 6-1 win. The recent stretch brings the team's record to 7-9 overall and 1-1 in the Patriot League.
- Veterans Dwojewski, Lucido and Rottkamp have contributed their fair share of wins to Bucknell during the course of their four-year careers. The trio of seniors has combined for a record of 298-221, good for a .574 winning percentage.
- Dwojewski is 12-4 in her last set of matches, including both singles and doubles play. Her 6-2 mark in doubles has come while paired with Elena Vidrascu (Rochester, N.Y./Sutherland). Vidrascu's singles play has started to come on as well. The freshman is 5-2 in her last seven matches, including 2-1 when forcing a third set.
- Bucknell has tried 16 different doubles combinations since the start of the fall season. Only four of those tandems had experience playing together prior to the campaign. Among those with history, Iepuras and Daria Tuzhikova went 4-5 as a team this season after going 15-5 together a year ago. That total was second on the team only to Lucido and Tania Varela's 18-3.
- The Orange and Blue are 19-16 (.543) in matches that go to three sets or super tiebreakers this season. Vidrascu has gone the distance in more matches than any other Bison at seven, posting a 3-4 record. Dwojewski has the best winning percentage in three-set matches at .800 (4-1). Her lone loss came to North Dakota's Stephanie Biehn on March 17, ending with a score of 7-6, 5-7, (10-6).
- While Lucido already has the all-time total wins record, she still has her eye on the singles and doubles records. With a career singles mark of 83-35, she needs just four more wins to pass Tanya Sichko (86-40). Lucido also needs four more doubles victories to pass Veronica Brown (82-42) for the top mark, having earned a 79-34 ledger.
- Iepuras is looking for her own advancement up the record lists. The junior is 90-61 in singles and doubles for her career. Two more victories put her 10th all-time at Bucknell. Dwojewski (84-95) and Rottkamp (51-57) also need two more wins each to improve to 13th and 29th, respectively, on the total wins list.
ABOUT THE BLACK KNIGHTS
- Army comes to Lewisburg with a 17-7 record overall and is undefeated in its two Patriot League matches. The Black Knights have a three-match winning streak, having earned decisions over Holy Cross (7-0), Lafayette (7-0) and St. John's (4-3).
- Annie Houghton has secured her spot atop the Black Knights' lineup, going 19-9 in singles for the year and 12-6 at No. 1 this spring. In doubles, Army is led by Erin Colton and Annie Hang, who have teamed up for an 11-5 mark this season.
- The 2010 campaign ended with Army winning its sixth consecutive Patriot League Championship title. The Black Knights have won 41 straight regular-season duals against league opponents. Their last loss came to American, which no longer sponsors women's tennis, in 2002.
- Bucknell trails Army in the all-time series, 27-4. The Bison's last win against the Black Knights came in 1994.
- Both of the teams' 2010 meetings ended by a score of 4-3, and few of the year's losses were as devastating as the championship match. Iepuras defeated Jessica Ahn in three sets to tie the contest at 2-2. Another three-setter went in Army's favor to give them a one-point lead and make No. 6 singles the deciding match. The Black Knight's Jurelle Mendoza came back for a first-set loss in a tiebreak against Dwojewski to clinch the title. Mendoza was then named the tournament MVP after her 6-7, (5), 6-1, 6-3 win.
- Bucknell and Army have had a few run-ins already this year, meeting at various points in the draws of the Eastern Intercollegiate and the Cornell Winter Invitational. In six played singles matches at Cornell, Army went 5-1 against Bucknell. Courtney Casey (Rockville, Md./Georgetown Visitation) earned the Bison's lone win, 6-2, 2-6, (10-7) over Holly Pappafotis. Army was also 3-1 in doubles at the invitational.
ABOUT THE LEOPARDS
- Lafayette enters the week with a 3-5 record overall and a 0-3 mark in the Patriot League. The Leopards are two for their last seven with wins over Rider (6-1) and Holy Cross (7-0). They will host Harford and Wagner before their Sunday match at Bucknell.
- Lafayette was 5-9 overall and did not earn a win in its six Patriot League matches last year. The team's lone All-Patriot League performer, Caitlin Gordon, does not return in 2011.
- Bucknell holds a slight advantage over Lafayette in the all-time series, leading 19-17-1. The Bison swept both their meetings last year. In the 7-0 regular-season win, Lucido defeated Kelsey Grad 6-2, 6-2 in the only match in which Lafayette won more than one game. A 4-0 win for Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals included just five total game wins for the Lafayette.
LOOKING AHEAD
Although Bucknell has four more duals before the Patriot League Tournament, only one of them is opposite a Patriot League foe. The Bison will make the trip to Lehigh on Tuesday, April 12 for a 3 p.m. match in Bethlehem, Pa. Thursday, April 14 marks the final home match for the women's squad as they go up against Robert Morris.
