Men's Tennis Drops Early Season Match to Delaware

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Bucknell men's tennis completed its second home match of the spring on Monday afternoon, falling 4-0 to Delaware at the Central PA Tennis Center. For a second straight day, the Bison claimed one doubles victory and found some momentum in singles play, but moved to 0-2 on the early season. Delaware picked up its first win of the spring after falling to Richmond on Sunday.

It was the pairing of Cooper Bradshaw and Michael Owen picking up a 6-3 doubles victory to begin the day for the Bison. It was a new duo for Bucknell after head coach Bruce Myers made changes to yesterday's lineup.

"The doubles point really was the difference today. We went with some new pairings that played very well, and that is a positive moving forward," said Myers.

Marwan Abaza and Chunyu Chen fell 6-4 in their doubles matchup, and freshmen Guillermo Torres and sophomore Ryan Jurist fell by the same score to give the Blue Hens the match's first point.

There were some encouraging singles performances for the Bison, as Owen and Abaza each claimed the first set in their respective matches. Owen won the first set 6-4 over Delaware's Liam Hedlund and was up 5-3 in the second. After a clean 6-0 win in the first set, Abaza reached set three with Delaware sophomore James Wilkinson before the day was over.

"We were winning the three unfinished singles matches, but we need to find another point somewhere in the lineup," said Myers.

Jurist was also leading in his second set, but the Blue Hens went on to claim three singles titles and hand the Bison a second loss on the early season.

The Bison are back to work this weekend when they head to Newark, N.J. for the NJIT Spring Tournament. Matches begin Saturday, Jan. 25.