Men's Tennis Starts Spring Break Road Trip Saturday at Richmond

Bucknell (7-3) at Richmond (4-5)
When: Saturday, Mar. 8, 1 p.m.
Where: Westhampton Tennis Complex, Richmond, Va.
Series Record: 1-3
Last Meeting: 1/16/17 (Richmond 6-1)
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell (7-3) at UNC Greensboro (4-6)
When: Monday, Mar. 10, 3 p.m.
Where: UNCG Tennis Courts, Greensboro, N.C.
Series Record: 0-1
Last Meeting: 1/16/17 (UNCG 6-1)
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell (7-3) at Elon (2-5)
When: Tuesday, Mar. 11, 2 p.m.
Where: Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, Elon, N.C.
Series Record: First Meeting
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell (7-3) at Davidson (5-5)
When: Friday, Mar. 14, 3 p.m.
Where: Davidson Tennis Courts, Davidson, N.C.
Series Record: First Meeting
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell at a Glance

The Bucknell men's tennis team is headed into a busy week with four matches in seven days over Spring Break. The Bison make a pitstop at Richmond on Saturday before heading to North Carolina to take on UNC Greensboro, Elon, and Davidson.
Bucknell is 2-2 in its last four after a 5-1 start to the Spring. Its three losses this season have come at the hands of Penn State, Drexel, and most recently, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the new No. 1 ranked team in Division III. CMS entered the match last Sunday as the No. 2 ranked team in the ITA Division III rankings and had just come off a win over No. 1 ranked Chicago.
Bucknell's run of five consecutive Patriot League Player of the Week Awards came to an end this week, although Stavrakas was a worthy candidate. He teamed up with Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega to make a nice run to the quarterfinals of the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla. The duo won four straight matches, including a three-set thriller against a tandem from UCLA in the second round. Stavrakas and Bain also won their match against CMS, and Stavrakas rolled to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 2 singles.
Amar Tahirovic is 18-3 in all singles matches and 7-0 in duals, where he joins Stavrakas in those top two positions. Stavrakas is now 21-3 in singles this season, including a perfect 10-0 in dual matches. He has won three times in the No. 1 spot in the lineup and seven times at No. 2. Stavrakas is also 17-5 in doubles.
The pairings of Tahirovic and Brendan McDonald and Nelson Alapi and Liam Kilmer also won matches in La Jolla.
As a team, Bucknell is a combined 108-40 (.730) in singles and 46-31 (.597) in doubles over the full season. The Bison are 34-20 in singles in dual matches, including a 17-1 mark in the top two spots in the lineup
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.
Tahirovic, only a junior, has already climbed to seventh place on Bucknell's career singles wins list with 66. His 114 combined singles and doubles victories are now tied 14th all-time with Octavio Canibe '15.

Next Up

After returning home from North Carolina, Bucknell will host Howard on Sunday, March 16 at 1 p.m.

Men's Tennis Starts Spring Break Road Trip Saturday at Richmond

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Players Mentioned

Nelson Alapi

Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega

Liam Kilmer

Brendan McDonald

Amar Tahirovic

Men's Tennis Starts Spring Break Road Trip Saturday at Richmond

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nelson Alapi

Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega

Liam Kilmer

Brendan McDonald

Amar Tahirovic

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