Men’s Tennis Has Strong First Day at Bucknell Invitational

Friday, September 6

Lewisburg, Pa. / Varsity Courts

All Day

Bucknell University

Bucknell Invitational

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Men’s Tennis Has Strong First Day at Bucknell Invitational

9/6/2019 10:41:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Tournament Brackets

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell men's tennis team sent two players into the semifinals at both A and B singles, and all three doubles tandems are still alive in the main draw as play got underway Friday at the season-opening Bucknell Invitational.

Head coach Bruce Myers sent out a young squad for tournament action against visitors from Niagara, Saint Francis (Pa.) and Howard, and the Bison enjoyed a solid opening day.

In the A singles flight, sophomore Cooper Bradshaw cruised to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Darrel Harxhi of Niagara. Bradshaw will meet Howard's Roger Lyn in the semis on Saturday, after Lyn knocked off Bucknell freshman Michael Owen 7-5, 6-1 in the other match on the top half of the draw.

Freshman Chunyu Chen received a bye into the semifinals, where he will take on Niagara's Jorge Sedeno on Saturday. Sedeno was a 6-0, 6-3 winner of Howard's Kyle Martin.

Freshman Guillermo Torres won perhaps the most exciting match of the day in the B flight, outlasting Manuel Alonso of Niagara 6-3, 2-6, 10-8. Torres next will play Sebastian Pinos of Saint Francis.

Bucknell sophomore Ryan Jurist had a much easier time in his B singles match, dispatching Sagar Raju of Howard in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Jurist will face Howard's Romani Mayers in the semifinal round.

Freshman Per Astrom was Bucknell's lone entrant in the C singles flight, and despite a hard-fought second set that extending into a tiebreaker, Astrom fell to Howard's Phoenix Williams 6-1, 7-6 (8-6).

At A doubles, Jurist and Bradshaw whitewashed Alonso and Eduardo Villalpando of Niagara, 6-0. Chen and Torres are also into the semis after a first-round bye.

Owen and Astrom were victorious at B doubles after a smooth 6-1 verdict over Howard's Williams and Devaughn Blackburn. B doubles is a four-team flight, so the Bison rookie duo will Pinos and Andrew Teixeira of Saint Francis in the final on Saturday.

Play resumes at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the Varsity Tennis Courts, located behind Gerhard Fieldhouse.