Men's Tennis Heads to Villanova Invitational

Friday, September 8

Villanova, Pa.

All Day

Bucknell University

Villanova Invitational

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

9/7/2023 12:36:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Setting the Scene
What: Villanova Invitational
Teams: Bucknell, Colgate, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola, Rider, Saint Joseph's, Villanova
Dates: Friday, September 8 to Sunday, September 10
Where: Villanova Tennis Complex, Villanova, Pa.

Tournament Details
Format: The Villanova Invitational features a unique format, with draws each consisting of an eight-team bracket. Each entry consists of three total matches, starting with a doubles match between the two teams, followed by each player playing a singles match against one of the other players. The team that wins at least two of the three matches advances in the bracket. A compass draw will be utilized, allowing all entries to play three matches during the weekend.

Bucknell at a Glance
• The Bison hit the road for the first time in 2023-24 with a trip to the Philadelphia area for the Villanova Invitational. Bucknell will see three Patriot League rivals – Lafayette, Lehigh, and Loyola – in the eight-team field.
• The Bison are coming off a dominant weekend at their home invitational. The squad went 20-2 in singles and 10-2 in doubles. Bucknell players won six of the eight singles groups and two of the four doubles flights.
• Singles group winners included Amar Tahirovic, Adam Stavrakas, Brendan McDonald, Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega, Tim Zelikovsky, and Liam Kilmer. Tahirovic, Stavrakas, Bain, Zelikovsky, and Kilmer all posted perfect 3-0 singles records.
• Tahirovic and Bain were particularly dominant. Tahirovic won his three matches in straight sets by a combined game score of 36-9, while Bain won by a combined 36-12.
• The doubles teams of Bain/Tahirovic and Kilmer/Zelikovsky both went 3-0 on the weekend.
• Freshmen Kilmer, Will Robison, and Ethan Escalamado all made strong debuts. Kilmer had a 6-0 weekend, winning all three of his singles matches in straight sets while teaming with Zelikovsky to concede only eight games in three doubles sets. Robinson won one-sided singles matches on Friday and Saturday, and he and Esclamado went 2-1 in doubles.
• Second-year head coach Jason Cohen's squad is coming off an outstanding spring, when it finished 15-8 overall and 4-3 in the Patriot League. Bucknell was just a few points away from advancing to the Patriot League Tournament final. After knocking off Lehigh in the quarterfinals, the Bison had top-seeded Navy on the brink in the semis, but the Midshipmen rallied to pull out a 4-3 verdict.
• Bucknell's 2023-24 roster features just one senior in Tim Zelikovsky, and the other seven players are all sophomores and freshmen.
• Three of the four sophomores were regulars in the Bucknell lineup last season, including Amar Tahirovic, who earned First Team All-Patriot League honors. Tahirovic led the team with a 23-9 singles record while playing from the top two spots in the lineup. He went 14-6 in dual matches and 8-2 at No. 1 singles. He became Bucknell's first freshman all-leaguer since Nick Bybel in 2013.
• Brendan McDonald and Oscar Bain Morena de Vega were also fixtures for the Bison as rookies a year ago. McDonald was the team's top doubles player with a stellar 25-5 record, and he also went 20-10 in singles, including the match-clincher against Lehigh in the Patriot League Tournament. Bain went 11-7 in singles and 14-10 in doubles as a freshman.
• Sophomore Adam Stavrakas was not with the team in the spring, but he flashed his talent at the ITA Regional in Charlottesville, Va., last October. He won his first five singles matches before falling in the second stage to Alvaro Ariza of Virginia Tech.

A Look Ahead
• Bucknell will also play in tournaments hosted by Villanova and Binghamton later this month, and the Bison will also look to quality players for the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., and the ITA Regionals in Lynchburg, Va.