Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Tennis Through the Decades, Presented by Geisinger
11/18/2020 2:44:00 PM | Men's Tennis
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Tennis was first introduced at Bucknell all the way back in 1896, and the men's tennis program was recognized as a varsity sport in 1920-21, making this the 100th-anniversary season. Bucknell tennis players achieved great success throughout the 1910s, and that set the stage for a perfect 6-0 season in the spring of 1921, with the wins coming against Penn State, CCNY, Maryland, Lehigh and a pair against local rival Susquehanna. In fact, Bucknell did not lose a match over its first three varsity seasons, winning 15 with three ties over that span. In 1924, Dr. Floyd Ballentine, an 1899 Bucknell graduate and then a professor of Latin and literature, became the program's first full-time head coach, a post that he held for 20 years while compiling a stellar 113-47-5 record.
Bucknell did not field a tennis team in 1943 and 1945 due to World War II, but in 1946 Henry "Hank" Peters '39 took over as head coach, and with the exception of the 1965 and 1966 seasons, he guided the program all the way until 1970. His final two seasons were among the best in team history. The 1969 squad went 11-2 and beat Swarthmore for the Middle Atlantic Conference championship, and the 1970 squad was even better, posting a 14-0 record while repeating as league champs. In August 1970, Peters tragically passed away, and Hall-of-Famer Craig Reynolds relinquished his track and field coaching duties to take over the Bison tennis program (his track and field successor, Art Gulden, went on to have his own Hall-of-Fame career at Bucknell). With star players Alexander Anderson, Steve Baird and Jim Lackritz back in the fold in 1971, Bucknell went 13-1 in Reynolds' debut tennis season and made it three straight MAC championships.
Reynolds, who was also the men's soccer coach at the time, continued to lead the men's tennis team all the way until 1992. Reynolds guided the Bison to four more league titles -- the 1987, 1989 and 1990 East Coast Conference crowns followed by the Patriot League championship in the spring of 1991. When Reynolds stepped down as tennis coach after the 1991-92 season, Bob Hammerlee began a 10-year stint that was highlighted by a stellar 19-2 season in 1997-98.
On June 28, 2002 some history was made as Rebecca Helt became only the second woman ever to coach a men's team at Bucknell, joining Lynn Kachmarik, who had previously coached the Bison men's water polo and swimming and diving squads. Helt, who also coached the women's tennis team, remained in that dual capacity until 2013, when the two programs once again split head coaches and Craig Schwartz took over for four seasons. Current mentor Bruce Myers came to Bucknell prior to the 2016-17 season and has guided the Bison to a couple of Patriot League Tournament semifinal berths.
Over the course of this week, Myers will be joined by many of the stars of the past who helped shape the history of the Bison men's tennis program. Special thanks to Geisinger for sponsoring the series, and we hope you enjoy this trip back Through the Decades.
1950s & 1960s
In this episode we are joined by four alumni who played tennis at Bucknell in the 1950s and 1960s: Maurice Mufson '53, Jay Pekar '67, David Gordon '69 and Sam Ross '69. Mufson was a three-year letterman for Hank Peters on some very good teams in the early 50s. His squads totaled 24 wins in those three seasons, and in the spring of 1951 tennis had gained such popularity on campus that spectator bleachers were installed for the first time for the season finale against Colgate. Bucknell shared the MAC championship with Swarthmore in 1958, and by the time Pekar, Gordon and Ross arrived in the late '60s the Bison were annual title contenders. In 1966, they won the MAC Northern Division but lost to Swarthmore in the championship match. Three years later Bucknell avenged that loss. After going a perfect 7-0 in the MAC Northern Division, the Bison topped Southern Division champion Swarthmore 6-3 to win the outright MAC title for the first time. The highlight of that match came at No. 2 singles, where Mark Poses split his first two sets and then won 12-10 in the third. Sophomore Alex Anderson, junior Dave Rath (who was also a star soccer player) and senior Sam Ross all went unbeaten against league competition and lost only once all season. Pekar finished his career 27-10 in singles and 23-8 in doubles. Gordon was a two-year captain who won 32 career matches, 19 in singles and 13 in doubles. Ross won nearly 73 percent of his collegiate matches, going 40-15 in his three varsity seasons, 26-8 in singles and 14-7 in doubles.
1970s
Hank Peters began coaching tennis at Bucknell in 1946. A native of Carbondale, Pa., Peters attended Bucknell Junior College in Wilkes-Barre, he graduated from Bucknell University in 1939 and received a master's degree in history from Bucknell in 1942. Prior to World War II, Peters was an associate professor in the physical education department and he served as a football athletic trainer. He was an avid tennis player as well, and in 1946 he won the Buffalo Valley Tennis Championship. Peters was a big supporter of local tennis and organized many local tournaments and clinics. When the varsity tennis program at Bucknell reorganized after a couple of years off during the war, Peters was a natural fit to take over as head coach, and he would go on to coach some of the best teams in school history. By the late 1960s, Bucknell was fielding some of its most dominant teams, led by stars such as Alex Anderson, Steve Baird, Jim Lackritz, Wheeler Neff, Mark Poses and Dave Rath. The 1970 squad might have been the very best. For the first time in 32 years, the Bison went undefeated with a perfect 14-0 record, including wins over the likes of Penn State, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Colgate. A 6-3 win over Saint Joseph's in the Middle Atlantic Conference championship match in Philadelphia gave Bucknell a second straight league title and an unblemished season record. Anderson and Poses went unbeaten in singles on the season, while Baird and Lackritz both went 13-1. The team won 148 sets and dropped only 28 on the season. Plenty of talent was set to return in 1971, but tragically Peters was not there to see it. He passed away in August of 1970, only three months after his team won the championship. As mentioned in the introduction, Craig Reynolds succeeded Peters as head coach, and his '71 squad continued its dominance. That Bison squad finished 13-1, the only loss a 5-4 defeat to Penn State, and once again beat Saint Joe's in the MAC final, this time by a 9-0 score. Bucknell finished 11-2 in 1972, but a 5-4 loss to Rider kept them out of the MAC Championship, although the team did finish second to Penn State at the Eastern Championships. The Bison returned to championship glory in 1973, beating Temple 8-1 in the MAC final to cap off a 9-2 season. In 1975, Bucknell moved to the East Coast Conference, where it would reside until the formation of the Patriot League in 1990-91. The Bison made it to the ECC final in '75 but lost to West Chester. Hall-of-Famers Anderson '71 and Baird '72 headline a star-studded panel, joining Lackritz '72, Bob Christianson '73 and Casey Jones '75. Anderson finished his Bucknell career with a 38-2 singles record and a 66-8 combined mark in singles and doubles. Baird was an incredible 38-1 in singles and 31-2 in doubles at Bucknell, and he was a Christy Mathewson Award winner as the top athlete in his class. Lackritz wasn't too shabby either, with career marks of 38-3 in singles and 65-8 combined. Christianson was a two-year letterman at Bucknell, and he posted a 6-2, 6-1 win against Saint Joe's in the 1971 MAC final as a sophomore. Jones was a two-year captain and was the No. 1 player on the 1973 championship team as a sophomore. He graduated with career records o 37-12 in singles and 36-10 in doubles.
1980s
Craig Reynolds' teams of the 1980s featured fairly balanced lineups, but in 1987 the emergence of a true No. 1 star propelled the Bison back to championship glory. Ed Hess, a freshman from Houston, quickly emerged as the team's top player that season, and he finished his rookie campaign with a perfect 14-0 record and an East Coast Conference gold medal in the No. 1 singles flight. Senior Mike Murphy (No. 2) and sophomores Steve Cottrell (No. 5) and Jim Greenho (No. 6) also won singles titles, and Bucknell claimed two of the three doubles flights to win the ECC crown in convincing fashion. Hess, who became the first Bucknell freshman ever to play No. 1 singles, would go on to finish his Hall-of-Fame career with a 60-3 singles record. The Bison finished second at the 1988 ECC Championships by just two points behind Towson State, and then they came back to win another title in 1989 by sweeping all six singles singles flights. That dominant performance in the ECC Championship came on the heels of a 12-2 dual season, making the 1989 squad one of the best in the history of the program. Hess '90, Murphy '87 and Cottrell '89 are joined by Peter Ochroch '85 and Scott Stieler '87 on today's chat. Ochroch was the 1983 ECC champion at No. 1 doubles with partner Steve Haas, and he won 20 singles and 25 doubles matches in his career. Murphy went 28-19 in singles play and added another 26 doubles wins in his career. Stieler was a two-year team captain who posted a stellar 35-16 career singles record. Cottrell was also a two-year captain who was a two-time winner at the '87 ECC Championship. In addition to his win at No. 5 singles, he teamed with Greenho for a title at No. 3 doubles. Cottrell's career records were 36-18 in singles and 31-12 in doubles, and his combined winning percentage is ninth-best in team history. Hess was a three-time ECC singles champion and two-time doubles champion with partner Jerome Charlier. Hess' 60 singles wins and 101 combined wins were school records when he graduated, and his .952 singles winning percentage is second-best in program history, trailing only fellow Hall-of-Famer Steve Baird '72, who finished his career with a 38-1 record.
1990s
The decade of the 1990s was marked by change for the Bison men's tennis program. Right off the bat, in 1990-91, Bucknell joined a new conference, moving from the East Coast Conference to the Patriot League, which had just expended to an all-sports affiliation after a few years as a football-only league. One thing that did not change was the team's success. After winning the 1987, 1989 and 1990 ECC titles, the Bison were immediately competitive in their new league. Interestingly, Patriot League conducted an unofficial championship in the spring of 1990, and led by a title in the No. 1 singles flight from Hall-of-Famer Ed Hess, Bucknell finished a close second to Army in the team standings. A week later they won their final ECC crown. The inaugural Patriot League Championship came in the spring of 1991 in Hamilton, N.Y., and the Bison came out on top in a tight race with Army and Colgate. Behind a Flight 3 singles title from Andrew Cantor and a Flight 3 doubles championship from Chris Stenstrom and Scott Bank, the Bison totaled 30 points while Army and Colgate both finished with 26. Bucknell won it with depth, as Army and Colgate both won more flight championships, but all six Bison singles players advanced to the semifinals and four made the final. In 1994, the Patriot League changed to a dual-match format for its postseason tournament in order to be better positioned to send its champion to the NCAA Tournament. The Bison advanced as far as the semifinals in each of the final three years of the decade. While Hess wrapped up his brilliant career in 1990 -- he graduated with a 60-3 record -- several other standout players competed in the Orange & Blue during the 90s. One of them was T.K. Kelly '00, who was twice named a First Team All-Patriot League honoree in singles as well as once in doubles with Steve Bomberger. Kelly, who was also named to the Patriot League All-Decade and 25th Anniversary Teams, joins us on today's chat along with Cantor '92, Mark McGuire '95, Bomberger '99 and Justin Quandt '01. Cantor graduated with a 60-27 career record in singles and doubles, which is the 10th-best mark in team history by winning percentage. In addition to his Patriot League title in 1991, he was the ECC champion at No. 6 singles in 1990. McGuire was a two-year team captain who posted a career record of 79-55 in singles and doubles. He was an All-Patriot League selection in singles in 1994, and as a senior he was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Bomberger was also a two-time captain, and his 102 combined wins and 50 doubles wins were school records at the time and still rank in the top 20 in team history. Quandt posted a 38-21 singles record, which ranks 13th in team history by winning percentage.
2000s
The men's tennis team reached double figures in dual match wins three times in the decade of the 2000s, including a stellar 14-6 record in Bob Hammerlee's final season in 2002. The Bison also advanced to the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament on four occasions. Many of the program's top performers came out of this era, and four of them join Coach Myers and current junior Cooper Bradshaw on today's panel. Joining us are Gerald DiChiara '05, Ira Reibeisen '08, Ben Young '08 and Ryan Sandburg '09. DiChiara was a team captain as a senior, and he still ranks 18th in team history in singles wins (49) and doubles wins (49). Reibeisen was the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2007, and he was named to the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team. A three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete and a two-year captain, Reibeisen graduated as the winningest player in school history with 76 singles victories, 69 doubles victories and 145 combined wins. He still ranks second on the singles list, tied for fifth on the combined list, and eighth on the doubles list. Young was a two-year captain who now ranks 12th in team history in doubles wins (59) and 16th in combined wins (104). Sandburg still holds the school record for most doubles victories with 87. His 150 combined singles and doubles wins was also a record at the time and now ranks third in team history. Sandburg was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2008 and he was an ITA Scholar-Athlete honoree as well.
2010s
Coach Bruce Myers and current sophomore Guillermo Torres are joined by five guests in our first installment of Through the Decades. Today's panelists include Josh Katten '13, Kelly Morque '13, Aidan Lynch '14, Nick Bybel '16 and Daniel Wright '18. Katten and Morque were co-captains during their senior seasons, when the Bison posted a 15-8 record. Katten ranks second in school history with 155 combined singles and doubles victories. His 83 doubles wins are also No. 2 all-time, and he is tied for third in singles wins with 72. He was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2010. Morque ranks tied for sixth in doubles wins (70) and eighth in combined wins (121) in team history, and he was a Second Team All-Patriot League pick as a senior. Lynch captained the 2013-14 team and was an ITA Scholar-Athlete that year. He posted a stellar 44-28 career doubles record. Bybel is one of the very best players in Bucknell history. He was a First Team All-Patriot League selection all four years and was the league's Player of the Year in both 2014 and 2015. He and Bryan Adams were the 2015 Patriot League Doubles Team of the Year. Bybel, who represented Bucknell at several national tournaments, is the Bucknell record-holder for singles wins (112) and combined singles and doubles wins (192). He won better than 79 percent of his singles matches from the No. 1 spot in the lineup, and he won the Christy Mathewson Award as the top athlete in his class as well as a spot on the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team. Wright was a three-time All-Patriot League selection, including First Team honors in 2017 and 2018, and he was also a three-time member of the Academic All-Patriot League Team. His 72 singles wins rank T-3rd in team history, and he also ranks fifth in doubles wins (73) and combined wins (145).
Bucknell did not field a tennis team in 1943 and 1945 due to World War II, but in 1946 Henry "Hank" Peters '39 took over as head coach, and with the exception of the 1965 and 1966 seasons, he guided the program all the way until 1970. His final two seasons were among the best in team history. The 1969 squad went 11-2 and beat Swarthmore for the Middle Atlantic Conference championship, and the 1970 squad was even better, posting a 14-0 record while repeating as league champs. In August 1970, Peters tragically passed away, and Hall-of-Famer Craig Reynolds relinquished his track and field coaching duties to take over the Bison tennis program (his track and field successor, Art Gulden, went on to have his own Hall-of-Fame career at Bucknell). With star players Alexander Anderson, Steve Baird and Jim Lackritz back in the fold in 1971, Bucknell went 13-1 in Reynolds' debut tennis season and made it three straight MAC championships.
Reynolds, who was also the men's soccer coach at the time, continued to lead the men's tennis team all the way until 1992. Reynolds guided the Bison to four more league titles -- the 1987, 1989 and 1990 East Coast Conference crowns followed by the Patriot League championship in the spring of 1991. When Reynolds stepped down as tennis coach after the 1991-92 season, Bob Hammerlee began a 10-year stint that was highlighted by a stellar 19-2 season in 1997-98.
On June 28, 2002 some history was made as Rebecca Helt became only the second woman ever to coach a men's team at Bucknell, joining Lynn Kachmarik, who had previously coached the Bison men's water polo and swimming and diving squads. Helt, who also coached the women's tennis team, remained in that dual capacity until 2013, when the two programs once again split head coaches and Craig Schwartz took over for four seasons. Current mentor Bruce Myers came to Bucknell prior to the 2016-17 season and has guided the Bison to a couple of Patriot League Tournament semifinal berths.
Over the course of this week, Myers will be joined by many of the stars of the past who helped shape the history of the Bison men's tennis program. Special thanks to Geisinger for sponsoring the series, and we hope you enjoy this trip back Through the Decades.
1950s & 1960s
In this episode we are joined by four alumni who played tennis at Bucknell in the 1950s and 1960s: Maurice Mufson '53, Jay Pekar '67, David Gordon '69 and Sam Ross '69. Mufson was a three-year letterman for Hank Peters on some very good teams in the early 50s. His squads totaled 24 wins in those three seasons, and in the spring of 1951 tennis had gained such popularity on campus that spectator bleachers were installed for the first time for the season finale against Colgate. Bucknell shared the MAC championship with Swarthmore in 1958, and by the time Pekar, Gordon and Ross arrived in the late '60s the Bison were annual title contenders. In 1966, they won the MAC Northern Division but lost to Swarthmore in the championship match. Three years later Bucknell avenged that loss. After going a perfect 7-0 in the MAC Northern Division, the Bison topped Southern Division champion Swarthmore 6-3 to win the outright MAC title for the first time. The highlight of that match came at No. 2 singles, where Mark Poses split his first two sets and then won 12-10 in the third. Sophomore Alex Anderson, junior Dave Rath (who was also a star soccer player) and senior Sam Ross all went unbeaten against league competition and lost only once all season. Pekar finished his career 27-10 in singles and 23-8 in doubles. Gordon was a two-year captain who won 32 career matches, 19 in singles and 13 in doubles. Ross won nearly 73 percent of his collegiate matches, going 40-15 in his three varsity seasons, 26-8 in singles and 14-7 in doubles.
1970s
Hank Peters began coaching tennis at Bucknell in 1946. A native of Carbondale, Pa., Peters attended Bucknell Junior College in Wilkes-Barre, he graduated from Bucknell University in 1939 and received a master's degree in history from Bucknell in 1942. Prior to World War II, Peters was an associate professor in the physical education department and he served as a football athletic trainer. He was an avid tennis player as well, and in 1946 he won the Buffalo Valley Tennis Championship. Peters was a big supporter of local tennis and organized many local tournaments and clinics. When the varsity tennis program at Bucknell reorganized after a couple of years off during the war, Peters was a natural fit to take over as head coach, and he would go on to coach some of the best teams in school history. By the late 1960s, Bucknell was fielding some of its most dominant teams, led by stars such as Alex Anderson, Steve Baird, Jim Lackritz, Wheeler Neff, Mark Poses and Dave Rath. The 1970 squad might have been the very best. For the first time in 32 years, the Bison went undefeated with a perfect 14-0 record, including wins over the likes of Penn State, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Colgate. A 6-3 win over Saint Joseph's in the Middle Atlantic Conference championship match in Philadelphia gave Bucknell a second straight league title and an unblemished season record. Anderson and Poses went unbeaten in singles on the season, while Baird and Lackritz both went 13-1. The team won 148 sets and dropped only 28 on the season. Plenty of talent was set to return in 1971, but tragically Peters was not there to see it. He passed away in August of 1970, only three months after his team won the championship. As mentioned in the introduction, Craig Reynolds succeeded Peters as head coach, and his '71 squad continued its dominance. That Bison squad finished 13-1, the only loss a 5-4 defeat to Penn State, and once again beat Saint Joe's in the MAC final, this time by a 9-0 score. Bucknell finished 11-2 in 1972, but a 5-4 loss to Rider kept them out of the MAC Championship, although the team did finish second to Penn State at the Eastern Championships. The Bison returned to championship glory in 1973, beating Temple 8-1 in the MAC final to cap off a 9-2 season. In 1975, Bucknell moved to the East Coast Conference, where it would reside until the formation of the Patriot League in 1990-91. The Bison made it to the ECC final in '75 but lost to West Chester. Hall-of-Famers Anderson '71 and Baird '72 headline a star-studded panel, joining Lackritz '72, Bob Christianson '73 and Casey Jones '75. Anderson finished his Bucknell career with a 38-2 singles record and a 66-8 combined mark in singles and doubles. Baird was an incredible 38-1 in singles and 31-2 in doubles at Bucknell, and he was a Christy Mathewson Award winner as the top athlete in his class. Lackritz wasn't too shabby either, with career marks of 38-3 in singles and 65-8 combined. Christianson was a two-year letterman at Bucknell, and he posted a 6-2, 6-1 win against Saint Joe's in the 1971 MAC final as a sophomore. Jones was a two-year captain and was the No. 1 player on the 1973 championship team as a sophomore. He graduated with career records o 37-12 in singles and 36-10 in doubles.
1980s
Craig Reynolds' teams of the 1980s featured fairly balanced lineups, but in 1987 the emergence of a true No. 1 star propelled the Bison back to championship glory. Ed Hess, a freshman from Houston, quickly emerged as the team's top player that season, and he finished his rookie campaign with a perfect 14-0 record and an East Coast Conference gold medal in the No. 1 singles flight. Senior Mike Murphy (No. 2) and sophomores Steve Cottrell (No. 5) and Jim Greenho (No. 6) also won singles titles, and Bucknell claimed two of the three doubles flights to win the ECC crown in convincing fashion. Hess, who became the first Bucknell freshman ever to play No. 1 singles, would go on to finish his Hall-of-Fame career with a 60-3 singles record. The Bison finished second at the 1988 ECC Championships by just two points behind Towson State, and then they came back to win another title in 1989 by sweeping all six singles singles flights. That dominant performance in the ECC Championship came on the heels of a 12-2 dual season, making the 1989 squad one of the best in the history of the program. Hess '90, Murphy '87 and Cottrell '89 are joined by Peter Ochroch '85 and Scott Stieler '87 on today's chat. Ochroch was the 1983 ECC champion at No. 1 doubles with partner Steve Haas, and he won 20 singles and 25 doubles matches in his career. Murphy went 28-19 in singles play and added another 26 doubles wins in his career. Stieler was a two-year team captain who posted a stellar 35-16 career singles record. Cottrell was also a two-year captain who was a two-time winner at the '87 ECC Championship. In addition to his win at No. 5 singles, he teamed with Greenho for a title at No. 3 doubles. Cottrell's career records were 36-18 in singles and 31-12 in doubles, and his combined winning percentage is ninth-best in team history. Hess was a three-time ECC singles champion and two-time doubles champion with partner Jerome Charlier. Hess' 60 singles wins and 101 combined wins were school records when he graduated, and his .952 singles winning percentage is second-best in program history, trailing only fellow Hall-of-Famer Steve Baird '72, who finished his career with a 38-1 record.
1990s
The decade of the 1990s was marked by change for the Bison men's tennis program. Right off the bat, in 1990-91, Bucknell joined a new conference, moving from the East Coast Conference to the Patriot League, which had just expended to an all-sports affiliation after a few years as a football-only league. One thing that did not change was the team's success. After winning the 1987, 1989 and 1990 ECC titles, the Bison were immediately competitive in their new league. Interestingly, Patriot League conducted an unofficial championship in the spring of 1990, and led by a title in the No. 1 singles flight from Hall-of-Famer Ed Hess, Bucknell finished a close second to Army in the team standings. A week later they won their final ECC crown. The inaugural Patriot League Championship came in the spring of 1991 in Hamilton, N.Y., and the Bison came out on top in a tight race with Army and Colgate. Behind a Flight 3 singles title from Andrew Cantor and a Flight 3 doubles championship from Chris Stenstrom and Scott Bank, the Bison totaled 30 points while Army and Colgate both finished with 26. Bucknell won it with depth, as Army and Colgate both won more flight championships, but all six Bison singles players advanced to the semifinals and four made the final. In 1994, the Patriot League changed to a dual-match format for its postseason tournament in order to be better positioned to send its champion to the NCAA Tournament. The Bison advanced as far as the semifinals in each of the final three years of the decade. While Hess wrapped up his brilliant career in 1990 -- he graduated with a 60-3 record -- several other standout players competed in the Orange & Blue during the 90s. One of them was T.K. Kelly '00, who was twice named a First Team All-Patriot League honoree in singles as well as once in doubles with Steve Bomberger. Kelly, who was also named to the Patriot League All-Decade and 25th Anniversary Teams, joins us on today's chat along with Cantor '92, Mark McGuire '95, Bomberger '99 and Justin Quandt '01. Cantor graduated with a 60-27 career record in singles and doubles, which is the 10th-best mark in team history by winning percentage. In addition to his Patriot League title in 1991, he was the ECC champion at No. 6 singles in 1990. McGuire was a two-year team captain who posted a career record of 79-55 in singles and doubles. He was an All-Patriot League selection in singles in 1994, and as a senior he was named the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Bomberger was also a two-time captain, and his 102 combined wins and 50 doubles wins were school records at the time and still rank in the top 20 in team history. Quandt posted a 38-21 singles record, which ranks 13th in team history by winning percentage.
2000s
The men's tennis team reached double figures in dual match wins three times in the decade of the 2000s, including a stellar 14-6 record in Bob Hammerlee's final season in 2002. The Bison also advanced to the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament on four occasions. Many of the program's top performers came out of this era, and four of them join Coach Myers and current junior Cooper Bradshaw on today's panel. Joining us are Gerald DiChiara '05, Ira Reibeisen '08, Ben Young '08 and Ryan Sandburg '09. DiChiara was a team captain as a senior, and he still ranks 18th in team history in singles wins (49) and doubles wins (49). Reibeisen was the Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 2007, and he was named to the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team. A three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete and a two-year captain, Reibeisen graduated as the winningest player in school history with 76 singles victories, 69 doubles victories and 145 combined wins. He still ranks second on the singles list, tied for fifth on the combined list, and eighth on the doubles list. Young was a two-year captain who now ranks 12th in team history in doubles wins (59) and 16th in combined wins (104). Sandburg still holds the school record for most doubles victories with 87. His 150 combined singles and doubles wins was also a record at the time and now ranks third in team history. Sandburg was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2008 and he was an ITA Scholar-Athlete honoree as well.
2010s
Coach Bruce Myers and current sophomore Guillermo Torres are joined by five guests in our first installment of Through the Decades. Today's panelists include Josh Katten '13, Kelly Morque '13, Aidan Lynch '14, Nick Bybel '16 and Daniel Wright '18. Katten and Morque were co-captains during their senior seasons, when the Bison posted a 15-8 record. Katten ranks second in school history with 155 combined singles and doubles victories. His 83 doubles wins are also No. 2 all-time, and he is tied for third in singles wins with 72. He was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection in 2010. Morque ranks tied for sixth in doubles wins (70) and eighth in combined wins (121) in team history, and he was a Second Team All-Patriot League pick as a senior. Lynch captained the 2013-14 team and was an ITA Scholar-Athlete that year. He posted a stellar 44-28 career doubles record. Bybel is one of the very best players in Bucknell history. He was a First Team All-Patriot League selection all four years and was the league's Player of the Year in both 2014 and 2015. He and Bryan Adams were the 2015 Patriot League Doubles Team of the Year. Bybel, who represented Bucknell at several national tournaments, is the Bucknell record-holder for singles wins (112) and combined singles and doubles wins (192). He won better than 79 percent of his singles matches from the No. 1 spot in the lineup, and he won the Christy Mathewson Award as the top athlete in his class as well as a spot on the Patriot League 25th Anniversary Team. Wright was a three-time All-Patriot League selection, including First Team honors in 2017 and 2018, and he was also a three-time member of the Academic All-Patriot League Team. His 72 singles wins rank T-3rd in team history, and he also ranks fifth in doubles wins (73) and combined wins (145).
Players Mentioned
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