Second-Seeded Bison Set to Host 2025 Patriot League Men's Tennis Championship

2025 Patriot League Championships
When: Thursday-Sunday, Apr. 17-20
Where: Varsity Tennis Courts, Lewisburg, Pa. (Weather backup: Central PA Tennis Center, South Williamsport, Pa.)
Bucknell's Seed: 2
Bucknell's First Match: vs. #7 Lafayette, Friday at 4 p.m. in quarterfinal round
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2025 Patriot League Men's Tennis Championship Schedule
Thursday, April 17– First Round
No. 8 Loyola Maryland vs. No. 9 Boston University, 1 p.m.

Friday, April 18 – Quarterfinals
No. 1 Navy vs. No. 8/9 winner, 9 a.m.
No. 4 Army West Point vs. No. 5 Colgate, 11 a.m.
No. 3 Lehigh vs. No. 6 Holy Cross, 1:30 p.m.
No. 2 Bucknell vs. No. 7 Lafayette, 4 p.m.

Saturday, April 19 – Semifinals
No. 1/8/9 vs. No. 4/5, 10 a.m.
No. 3/6 vs. No. 2/7, 2 p.m.

Sunday, April 20 – Championship
Semifinal 1 winner vs. Semifinal 2 winner, 1 p.m.

Bucknell at a Glance

The much-anticipated Patriot League Tournament has arrived, and not only is Bucknell hosting the championship for the first time since 2015, but the Bison are also the No. 2 seed and looking to get over the hump and win the title.
Bucknell's last Patriot League men's tennis title came in 1991, when it was an individually flighted championship format. The league moved to its current team scoring format in 1994, and since then, Bucknell has reached the semifinals 17 times but has never advanced to the championship match. This is the team's highest-ever seed, however. The Bison have been seeded third on several occasions, including last year, but have never been as high as No. 2.
Navy is this year's top seed. The Midshipmen have eliminated the Bison in each of the last three years in the semifinal round. Bucknell's lone Patriot League loss this season was a 4-2 defeat to Navy at home two weeks ago.
Bucknell bounced back from that close loss to the Mids with three straight league wins over Lafayette, Lehigh, and Holy Cross, all by 4-0 counts. The Lehigh match was a big one on the road, as the Mountain Hawks also had only one PL loss at the time (to Navy). Lehigh secured the No. 3 seed, setting up a possible rematch in the semifinals on Saturday.
Bucknell's first-round opponent is No. 7 Lafayette, which comes in with a 5-16 record and a 2-6 mark in the Patriot League. The Bison and Leopards met on Apr. 6 at Lehigh's indoor courts, and Bucknell won 4-0. Lafayette did get a win at No. 1 doubles, but the Bison won the other two doubles matches and then clinched it with straight-set singles wins from Amar Tahirovic (1), Adam Stavrakas (2), and Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega (4).
Bucknell is now 56-20 all-time against Lafayette with 21 consecutive wins. The Bison are 3-1 all-time against the Leopards in the Patriot League Tournament, with the last meeting a 4-0 Bucknell win in the 2013 quarterfinals.
The Bison are 16-6 in dual matches this season, and the 16 wins have tied last year's team for second-most in program history. The 1998 team finished 19-2, and this year's squad would need to win the Patriot League title to equal that mark.
This is the first time in team history that the Bison have won 15 or more matches in three straight seasons. Bucknell is now 47-21 in Jason Cohen's three-year tenure as head coach.
Juniors Amar Tahirovic and Adam 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 40-1 in dual matches this spring. Stavrakas is 32-3 over the full season and 21-0 in duals. He brings a 21-match winning streak into the postseason, 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.
Stavrakas' 32 singles wins are second-most Bucknell history. Nick Bybel won a record 38 matches in 2014-15.
Meanwhile, Tahirovic is now 30-3 with 12 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.
Tahirovic entered the ITA Men's Singles Rankings for the first time two weeks ago at No. 124, and he has moved up to No. 84 this week. Bybel was the last Bison to be ranked during the spring season. He rose as high as No. 95 as a senior in 2016.
Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega is also playing good tennis. Bucknell's usual No. 3 or 4 player has won nine straight matches and is 13-4 in duals, 18-7 overall. Bain and Stavrakas have been strong in doubles as well, and that duo advanced to the quarterfinals of the West Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla, Calif., last month.
Bucknell is now 155-54 (.742) in singles and 70-40 (.636) in doubles in 2024-25.
Tahirovic is now 80-17 in singles in his career, and he has moved into second place on Bucknell's all-time singles wins list. Bybel holds the record with 112.
Only six players in team history have finished their careers with a singles winning percentage of .800 or better, and all of them graduated by 1990. Tahirovic currently has an .816 winning percentage.
Tahirovic is also 66-33 in career doubles matches, and his 146 combined wins rank No. 5 in team history.
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 Brendan 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.

Second-Seeded Bison Set to Host 2025 Patriot League Men's Tennis Championship

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Players Mentioned

Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega

Brendan McDonald

Adam Stavrakas

Amar Tahirovic