Women's Tennis Hosts Season-Opening Match vs. Saint Francis Sunday

Sunday, March 7

Williamsport, Pa.

1 p.m.

Bucknell University

Saint Francis

Women's Tennis Hosts Season-Opening Match vs. Saint Francis Sunday

3/4/2021 10:12:00 AM | Women's Tennis

Setting the Scene
What: Saint Francis (2-5) at Bucknell (0-0)
When: Sunday, March 7 – 1 p.m.
Where: South Williamsport, Pa. – Central PA Tennis Center
Results: BucknellBison.com

NOTICE: Because Bucknell University's campus is closed to the public, no spectators will be permitted at home events until further notice.

About the Bison
• Bucknell plays its first match of the 2021 spring season on Sunday after more than a year without competition.
• The Bison are in their second year under head coach Tammy Cecchini. Cecchini led Bucknell to a 6-3 record last season, winning five of the team's final six matches.
• Bucknell lost two players to graduation last year and welcomed four newcomers to the roster. With 10 players, Bucknell's roster is its largest since the 2017-18 season.
• Senior Sofia Ayuso enters the season ranked 15^th all-time in singles wins, 24^th in doubles victories, and 20^th in all-time victories.
• Senior Cayla Koch ranks 27^th all-time in singles wins, 12^th in doubles, and 17^th in all-time wins.
• Seniors Rachel Carroll and Ayuso were each named team captains during the offseason.
• Sophomore Dax Seidlin led all Bison in both doubles and singles victories in 2019-20.

Scouting The Red Flash
• Saint Francis has opened the season 2-5 with victories over Thomas More and Western Illinois.
• Bucknell and Saint Francis last faced one another in dual action back on Feb. 9 of last year. The Bison came away with a 6-1 victory. Bucknell won five of six in singles and two of three in doubles in last year's meeting.

Up Next
• Bucknell hosts Lafayette at home on Saturday, March 13. It's the first Patriot League matchup for the Bison since 2019. Next weekend's match is scheduled to begin at noon.

Season Preview

LEWISBURG, Pa. – After more than year, the Bucknell women's tennis team is ready to get back on the court and pick up where it left off back in March of 2020. Second-year head coach Tammy Cecchini is also eager to get back to competition and to see how much better the Bison can be in 2021.

"We had such a great fall season, despite COVID-19 and no competition, we did really well" said Cecchini. "This year I'm more confident. It's my sophomore year, so I really feel like I belong now."

Bucknell was already trending up at the end of Cecchini's first season. The Bison won five of their final six matches and were 6-3 overall in the spring. Before that, the team had navigated a fall season filled with invitationals that featured a number of individual tournament champions and saw budding young talent on the roster. This year, however, Bucknell enters the spring without having played the fall tournaments that allow coaches to evaluate talent.

"Because we didn't have fall matches or tournaments, that's usually where I get to try different doubles teams and see how people work together. It's going to take us a while to come up with doubles teams, and everyone is just so good, and everyone wants it, so it's going to be hard," said Cecchini.

In determining this season's lineup, Cecchini will be tasked with finding players to replace last year's seniors Paige Leavy and Jill Auteri. Leavy went 8-1 playing in the doubles one spot last year and was 11-9 overall in singles. Auteri brought home seven singles wins and eight doubles victories playing in a variety of roles.

Bucknell's 2020-21 roster has a healthy mix of youth and experience with three seniors, one junior, two sophomores and four rookies. At 10 players, Bucknell's roster is its largest and filled with the most first-year players since 2017-18.

The leadership of the group comes from seniors Sofia Ayuso, Rachel Carroll and Cayla Koch. The trio carries a combined win total of 203, and both Ayuso and Carroll were named team captains over the summer. Ayuso ranks 13^th in program history with a 66.7 (90-45) all-time winning percentage, and Koch sits right behind her at 64.8 percent (92-50). Meanwhile, Carroll is coming off her strongest season as a Bison after posting an 11-9 singles mark in 2019-20.

"For the seniors, this is it for them. One more semester and they're done, so they're excited," said Cecchini.

The lone junior on the roster, Daniela Bellini, has been consistently strong through two years and was a First Team All-League selection in 2019. Bellini provides the Bison with experience at the No. 1 singles position as she went 14-6 in that spot as a first-year player two years ago. The Tierra Verde, Fla. native went 12-5 in singles last year, including a 4-1 record when playing at No. 1.

Perhaps some of the most exciting play last year came from this year's sophomore class. Dax Seidlin sported Bucknell's best record in both singles (15-4) and doubles (18-2). She advanced to three singles championships during fall tournaments in 2019 and went 5-2 in dual singles while playing at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions in the spring. Seidlin also posted an impressive 7-0 record in No. 1 doubles playing with Leavy. Sophomore Chloe Zilkha picked up seven singles victories during her rookie campaign, including a 6-4 record in the fall.

With four first-year players making up 40 percent of the roster, Cecchini will be faced with evaluating the plethora of young talent she has on the roster.

"They each have their strengths, and it's going to be exciting," said Cecchini. "It's a good position to be in, but it makes my job a lot harder when you have everyone that's really good."

The rookie class consists of Tyne Miller (Pottstown, Pa./The Hill School), Kate Novak (Mattawan, Mich./Mattawan), Madi Sebulsky (Bend, Ore./Summit), and Laurel Utterback (North Canton, Ohio/North Canton).

"I'm excited to see who they become on the court. I understand what their tennis skills are, but it's going to be great to see how they perform in a match," said Cecchini.

After the first three matches of the season were canceled, the Bison are scheduled to begin competition against Saint Francis this weekend. Bucknell, which hasn't played a conference match in nearly two years, kicks off Patriot League play with a home match against Lafayette on March 13 and wraps up the regular season with a match at St. Bonaventure on April 24.

The 2021 Patriot League Women's Tennis Championship is scheduled to begin on Thursday, April 29 and finish Sunday, May 2. Navy is the scheduled host for the championship.