Men’s Tennis Rallies from Behind to Beat Drexel, 4-3

Saturday, April 13

Philadelphia, Pa.

1 p.m.

Bucknell University

Drexel

Photo by: Lianne Garrahan

Men’s Tennis Rallies from Behind to Beat Drexel, 4-3

4/13/2024 6:29:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Sophomore Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega won a second-set tiebreaker from Alex De Soussa at No. 3 singles, clinching Bucknell's come-from-behind 4-3 win over Drexel on Saturday afternoon at Vidal Courts.

This was Bucknell's third trip to Philadelphia in the last four weeks, and the Bison won each time against Temple, Saint Joseph's, and now a strong Drexel (12-8) team that had posted one-sided wins over Army and Navy earlier in the spring.

Now 13-5 on the season, the Bison found themselves in a 3-1 hole after dropping the doubles point and then singles matches in the No. 4 and 6 positions. Adam Stavrakas won a quick 6-0, 6-1 match at No. 2 singles, but the two straight Dragons wins put them on the brink.

Bucknell needed to win all three remaining matches on the courts, and Tim Zelikovsky (No. 5), Amar Tahirovic (No. 1) and Bain all came through.

Zelikovsky won his eighth straight singles bout and improved to 26-2 on the season with a 7-5, 6-2 decision over Pierre Humayou. Tahirovic, now 22-6 on the campaign, pulled out a 6-4, 7-5 win over Alan Jesudason, who also came in with a winning record in the top spot in the lineup.

Bain and De Soussa were the last men standing on Court 3. Bain won two straight games to take the first set 7-5, then held serve to force a tiebreaker at 6-all in the second set. Bain jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the tiebeaker and went on to win it 7-2 to clinch the match for the Bison.

Bain and Stavrakas were two-time winners on the day, as they teamed up for a 6-4 win over Hussein El Tawil and Pierre Humayou at No. 2 doubles.

Bucknell has a big Patriot League encounter coming up on Sunday at Navy. First serve is set for 11 a.m.