Men's Tennis Hosts Binghamton, Visits Colgate this Weekend

Binghamton (9-8, 3-1 NEC) at Bucknell (10-5, 1-0 PL)
When: Friday, March 21, 4 p.m.
Where: Varsity Tennis Courts, Lewisburg, Pa.
WATCH LIVE
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell (10-5, 1-0 PL) at Colgate (8-6, 1-2 PL)
When: Sunday, March 23, 2 p.m.
Where: Drumlins Tennis Club, Syracuse, N.Y.
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison bring a 10-5 record into a pair of weekend matches against teams from Central New York. Bucknell hosts Binghamton on Friday before resuming Patriot League play on Sunday against Colgate at Drumlins in Syracuse.
Weather permitting, Bucknell will play its first home outdoor match of the spring on Friday. Video cameras have been installed at the Varsity Tennis Courts, so for the first time this spring, all men's and women's outdoor matches will be live-streamed on Track Tennis.
The Bison are coming off a 6-1 win over Howard on Sunday at the Central PA Tennis Center. That wrapped up a 3-2 Spring Break week, with both of the losses by close 4-3 counts against Richmond and Davidson. The Bison also defeated UNC Greensboro 5-1 and Elon 5-2.
The Elon win came down to two three-set matches at 1 and 2 singles. Amar Tahirovic clinched it at No. 1, rallying from 3-5 down in the third set to win four straight games.
Tahirovic went 4-0 in singles on the week and earned his third Patriot League Player of the Week citation of the spring on Tuesday. Bucknell has won six of the eight PL weekly honors, three each for Tahirovic and Adam Stavrakas.
Tahirovic and Stavrakas have been nearly unbeatable at the top of the singles lineup. They have interchanged between the 1 and 2 spots and are a combined 27-1 in dual matches this spring. Stavrakas is 26-3 over the full season and 15-0 in duals. He brings a 15-match winning streak into this weekend's competitions, with his last loss coming to Richmond's Dylan Atkinson at the Navy Invitational on Nov. 10. Of Stavrakas' three losses this season, one of them was to his own teammate Tahirovic in the championship match of the Patriot League qualifying tournament for the ITA Conference Masters.
Meanwhile, Tahirovic is now 23-3 with five straight wins. His only losses this season are to Penn State's No. 1 player Loren Byers at the ITA Regionals in the fall; to Notre Dame's Sebastian Dominko in the quarterfinals of the ITA Conference Masters; and to the No. 1 ranked player in Division III, Advik Mareedu of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. He avenged that loss to Byers with a three-set win in the Bucknell-Penn State dual match on Jan. 26.
Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega is also playing good tennis. Bucknell's usual No. 3 player has won four straight matches and is 8-4 in duals, 13-7 overall. Bain and Stavrakas have been strong in doubles as well, and that duo recently advanced to the quarterfinals of the West Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla, Calif.
The Bison welcomed Will Robinson back to the lineup after an injury absence. Robinson won both of his matches against Howard on Sunday, including a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 singles.
Bucknell is now 127-50 (.718) in singles and 55-37 (.598) in doubles in 2024-25.
Tahirovic is now 73-17 in singles in his career, and he has climbed into sole possession of third place on Bucknell's all-time singles wins list. His 73 victories are one more than Josh Katten and Daniel Wright, and he needs three more to catch Ira Reibeisen for the No. 2 spot
Bucknell's 4-1 win over Army on Feb. 1 snapped a 34-match losing streak to the Black Knights dating back to 1974.
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.

Binghamton at a Glance/Series History

The Bearcats are 9-8 overall and 3-1 in the Northeast Conference. They will come to Lewisburg riding a three-match winning streak, coming against Marist (6-1), St. Bonaventure (6-1), and Mercyhurst (6-1).
Binghamton has played two Patriot League teams this spring, with both decided by 4-3 scorelines. The Bearcats defeated Colgate 4-2 on Feb. 2 and lost to Army by that margin on Feb. 22.
Ronin Lotlikar, who plays mostly in the No. 2 singles position, has a team-high 16 wins against 12 losses. Filipe Costa is 14-9, including a 9-1 record at No. 3 singles. William Morais Binnie is 5-8 at No. 1 and 14-15 overall this season.
Bucknell and Binghamton both competed at the Navy Invitational last November, and current Bison went 5-1 in head-to-head matches.
The Bearcats have had the better of the all-time series in dual matches, winning nine of the 10 meetings dating back to 2000. Bucknell won the first matchup 4-3 at home in 2000, but Binghamton has won the last nine in a row. This will be the first match between the two teams since Jan. 30, 2016, when Binghamton won at home 7-0.

Colgate at a Glance/Series History

The Raiders are 8-6 overall and 1-2 in Patriot League play. In PL action, they have beaten Holy Cross (5-2) and lost to Lehigh (5-2) and Navy (6-1).
Colgate just got back from Miami, where they fell 7-0 to the 34th-ranked Hurricanes and won 7-0 against NAIA Florida National.
Colgate has been strong at the bottom of the singles lineup, going 10-3 at both 5 and 6 singles and 8-5 at 4.
Jerome Falcon is 9-2 at No. 6 singles and leads the team with a 10-3 record in dual matches.
The Raiders are also 11-2 at No. 3 doubles, with Falcon and Parker McGowan playing all of the team's matches there.
Bucknell's Amar Tahirovic defeated Colgate's Josh Israel 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals of the Patriot League ITA Conference Masters qualifier in October. That was the only Bucknell-Colgate matchup in fall tournament play.
Bucknell is 23-55 all-time in dual matches against Colgate. The teams first met in 1942, a 6-3 Bucknell win on the way to a 7-1 season.
The Bison have won the last four head-to-head meetings, including two last season. Bucknell won 7-0 at home in the regular season and 4-0 at Army in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
Colgate's last series win was a 4-3 verdict in the 2021 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals at Lehigh.

Next Up

Bucknell plays twice more the following weekend, including a home Patriot League tilt against Loyola on Saturday, March 29. The following day the Bison visit Mount St. Mary's for a non-league encounter.