Men's Tennis Heads to West Point for Clashes with Army, Fairfield Saturday

"IN THE HERD" WITH JASON COHEN & AMAR TAHIROVIC:

Bucknell (1-1, 0-0 PL) at Army (1-1, 0-0 PL)
When: Saturday, Feb. 1, 11 a.m.
Where: Lichtenberg Tennis Center, West Point, N.Y.
LIVE RESULTS | WATCH LIVE

Bucknell (1-1) vs. Fairfield (0-1)
When: Saturday, Feb. 1, 5 p.m.
Where: Lichtenberg Tennis Center, West Point, N.Y.
LIVE RESULTS | WATCH LIVE

Bucknell at a Glance

We're only in the second week of the 2025 dual-match schedule, but already we have a big Patriot League encounter on tap. Bucknell and Army, two teams expected to be in contention for the league title later in the spring, get together at West Point on Saturday for their first meeting since 2022. Bucknell will be looking to snap a 34-match losing streak to the Black Knights.
The Bison and Black Knights get going at 11 a.m., and both teams will also play Fairfield later in the weekend.
Bucknell is 1-1 thus far. Last weekend, the Bison handled Saint Francis 7-0 at the Central PA Tennis Center before falling on the road at Penn State by a 5-2 count.
Amar Tahirovic earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors after winning a three-set battle against Penn State's No. 1 man, Loren Byers. Tahirovic is 13-2 in singles on the season, and one of the losses was a tough three-setter to Byers in the ITA Northeast Regional Round of 16 in October. Tahirovic returned the favor on Sunday in State College, defeating Byers 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 at No. 1 singles.
Adam Stavrakas also picked up a win at No. 2 singles at PSU, but the Nittany Lions went on to win the dual 5-2.
Tahirovic (13-2) and Stavrakas (13-3) are tied for the team lead with 13 singles wins apiece, and Bucknell as a team is 82-24 (.774) in singles dating back to the start of the fall season. Nelson Alapi (11-2) also has double-digit wins, while Shiv Singh (8-1), Felix Steindl (8-2), and Liam Kilmer (8-2) all have eight.
Brendan McDonald has a team-high 10 doubles wins, six of them coming alongside Tahirovic.
Nine of Bucknell's 10 players had winning singles records in the fall, and all 10 were at least .500.
The highlight of the fall was Bucknell's pair of wins at the Patriot League ITA Conference Masters qualifier at West Point. The tournament served as a mini Patriot League individual championship, with each team entering two singles players and one doubles unit. Tahirovic won a three-set match from teammate Stavrakas in the singles final, and Tahirovic and McDonald won the doubles title.
Those wins advanced them to the ITA Conference Masters event in Georgia, where top players from every Division I conference had a chance to automatically qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships. After two straight-set wins, Tahirovic lost to Notre Dame's Sebastian Dominko in the quarterfinals, leaving him just one win shy of the NCAA bid. Tahirovic and McDonald won their opening-round doubles match before getting eliminated by the top seed from Mississippi State.
Tahirovic, only a junior, has already climbed to 10th place on Bucknell's career wins list with 63. His 108 combined singles and doubles victories rank T-15th all-time.

Army at a Glance/Series History

Army is also 1-1 to start the season. Playing at home last weekend, the Black Knights defeated Sacred Heart 5-2 before falling to Richmond 4-2.
Jackson Armistead and Alan Ton both won in straight sets in the top two singles positions against Sacred Heart. The duo flipped spots for the Richmond match, and Armistead won again in straight sets at No. 2, while Ton dropped his match at No. 1. Jack Hanna at No. 5 notched Army's other point against the Spiders.
Bucknell and Army had some matchups at the ITA Conference Masters qualifier at West Point back in October. In singles, Adam Stavrakas defeated Armistead 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals, and Tahirovic beat Ton 6-1, 6-0 in the quarters. In the doubles flight, Tahirovic and Brendan McDonald defeated Hanna and Vishnu Bodavula 7-6 in the semis.
Army has dominated the dual-match series, winning 34 straight since Bucknell's 5-4 win at West Point on Apr. 16, 1974. The Bison won the first three head-to-head matchups in 1971, 1972, and 1974, but it's been all Black Knights since then.
The last meeting was a 4-2 Army win at the Central PA Tennis Center on March 19, 2022. No current member of the Bison squad played in that match.

Fairfield at a Glance/Series History

Fairfield's first dual of the season was a 6-1 loss at Brown last Sunday. That match was closer than the score indicates, as all three doubles matches were tight, and three of the six singles matches went three sets.
Fairfield's win came at No. 2 singles, where Kostas Kollias defeated Oliver Worth 6-7, 6-2, 7-5.
The Stags were picked second in the MAAC's preseason coaches' poll in a close vote behind only Quinnipiac. Fairfield went 6-0 to claim the 2024 MAAC regular-season title, but the Stags lost to Quinnipiac in the MAAC Tournament final to finish the season 14-9.
Kollias, Alex Aguiar, Luca Benaibbouche, Sam Hodges, and Will O'Brien have all earned All-MAAC honors in previous seasons.
Bucknell is 3-0 all-time against Fairfield, although the two teams have not meet since 2004, when the Bison won 5-2 in Orlando on Spring Break.

Next Up

Bucknell returns home for two matches on Saturday, Feb. 8. The Bison will host Johns Hopkins at 1 p.m. and Rider at 5 p.m. at the Central PA Tennis Center.

Men's Tennis Heads to West Point for Clashes with Army, Fairfield Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Nelson Alapi

Liam Kilmer

Brendan McDonald

Shiv Singh

Adam Stavrakas

Felix Steindl

Amar Tahirovic

Men's Tennis Heads to West Point for Clashes with Army, Fairfield Saturday

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nelson Alapi

Liam Kilmer

Brendan McDonald

Shiv Singh

Adam Stavrakas

Felix Steindl

Amar Tahirovic

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