Men's Tennis Hosts Lehigh Valley Foes this Weekend

Lehigh (11-10, 4-3 PL) at Bucknell (13-6, 2-2 PL)
When: Saturday, Apr. 20, 1 p.m.
Where: Varsity Tennis Courts, Lewisburg, Pa.
LIVE RESULTS

Lafayette (8-12, 1-4 PL) at Bucknell (13-6, 2-2 PL)
When: Sunday, Apr. 21, 1 p.m.
Where: Varsity Tennis Courts, Lewisburg, Pa.
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison close out the 2024 regular season with home matches this weekend against Patriot League rivals Lehigh and Lafayette. The program will celebrate Senior Day on Sunday, with lone senior Tim Zelikovsky recognized before the match.
Bucknell fell to 2-2 in Patriot League play after dropping a 5-2 decision at Navy last Sunday. This week's matches will help determine seeding for the Patriot League Tournament, which will be played at West Point on Apr. 25-28.
Last Saturday, Bucknell won a 4-3 thriller against a good Drexel team in Philadelphia. Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega clinched the verdict by winning a second-set tiebreaker from Alex De Soussa at No. 3 singles. The Bison trailed 3-1 in the match until Zelikovsky (5), Amar Tahirovic (1), and Bain came through.
Tahirovic (1) and Liam Kilmer (4) were victorious against Navy. Tahirovic was a 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 winner over Sasha Panyan, the 2023 Patriot League Player of the Year.
Zelikovsky saw his eight-match singles winning streak come to an end at Navy, and it was only his third defeat of the entire season. He is now 26-3 in 2023-24, including a 17-2 mark in duals and 9-1 in fall tournaments. The 26 wins are tied for fourth-most in a season in team history, and his 68 career singles wins rank No. 6 all-time.
Bucknell typically starts a young lineup that features a freshman, four sophomores, and a senior. The two reserves are also freshmen, as Zelikovsky is the only player on the roster older than a sophomore.
Tahirovic leads the team from the No. 1 position in both singles and doubles. In singles, Tahirovic is 14-5 in duals and 23-6 overall, including the fall tournament schedule. He is also 24-8 in doubles, including a 9-5 record in dual matches with partner Brendan McDonald.
Kilmer is now 21-6 in singles and 19-9 in doubles this season.
Bucknell now has a 135-57 (.703) combined singles record and a 65-38 (.631) doubles mark.

Lehigh at a Glance/Series History

The Mountain Hawks dominated local rival Lafayette 4-0 in Bethlehem on Tuesday to improve to 4-3 in Patriot League play. Last weekend, Lehigh fell 4-3 to Army and 4-1 to Boston Univesity in Boston.
Lehigh also has convincing PL wins over Loyola, Colgate, and Holy Cross, and a 4-2 loss to Navy.
Matt Kleiman plays in the No. 1 spot in singles and doubles and has 10-9 and 12-6 records, respectively. A fifth-year graduate student, Kleiman was a First Team All-Patriot League selection a year ago.
Junior Marc Blekhman was a Second Team All-PL pick in 2023 after earning PL Rookie of the Year honors as a freshman.
The team's winningest singles player is Sean Jaeger, who is 16-3 from the 3-4-5 spots in the lineup.
Bucknell and Lehigh first met on the tennis courts in 1921, and since then the Mountain Hawks have compiled a narrow 46-42 lead in the all-time series.
The two teams split a pair of meetings last season. Lehigh won 4-3 in Bethlehem on the final weekend of the regular season, but the Bison exacted revenge six days later with a 4-2 win in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
In that postseason match at Colgate, Brendan McDonald picked up the match-clinching win at No. 4 singles to lead the fifth-seeded Bison to the mild upset of the fourth-seeded Mountain Hawks. The win snapped a five-match series losing streak.

Lafayette at a Glance/Series History

The Leopards are 1-5 in Patriot League play, with the win a 4-3 verdict over Colgate on Apr. 6. Lafayette was beaten by league rivals Army, Holy Cross, Navy, Loyola, and Lehigh.
Lafayette's most recent outing was a 4-0 loss at Lehigh on Tuesday.
Arman Ganchi typically plays No. 1 singles and doubles for the Leopards.
Bucknell brings a 19-match series winning streak into Sunday's match. The Bison lead the all-time series 54-20, dating back to 1936.
Lafayette's last win over Bucknell was a 6-1 verdict on March 27, 2003.
Last year in Easton, Bucknell won 6-1 by claiming the doubles point and five of the six singles matches. Lafayette's point came at No. 3 singles, where Nick McKenzie held off Michael Owen in three sets.

Next Up

Bucknell travels to West Point for the Patriot League Tournament next week. After falling 4-3 to Navy in the semifinals last season, the Bison will be looking to take it at least one step further this time around. Seedings will be announced by the Patriot League next week.

Men's Tennis Hosts Lehigh Valley Foes this Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega

Liam Kilmer

Brendan McDonald

Michael Owen

Amar Tahirovic

Tim Zelikovsky

Men's Tennis Hosts Lehigh Valley Foes this Weekend

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega

Liam Kilmer

Brendan McDonald

Michael Owen

Amar Tahirovic

Tim Zelikovsky

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