Sunday, April 20
Lewisburg, Pa.
1 p.m.
Bucknell University
4
vs
1
Navy (PL Championship)
CHAMPIONS! Men's Tennis Defeats Navy to Claim First Patriot League Title Since 1991
4/20/2025 3:40:00 PM | Men's Tennis
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega put away a backhand volley to cap off a historic Sunday for the Bucknell men's tennis team in front of an electric crowd at the Varsity Tennis Courts. The 4-1 win over Navy in the Patriot League Tournament final was not only Bucknell's first win in 53 all-time meetings with the Midshipmen, but it sent the Bison to their first conference title since 1991 and their first-ever in the team-format era, which began in 1994. Bucknell also tied a school record with its 19th win of the season, and the Bison clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
After dropping the doubles point, Bucknell dominated at the first four singles positions and wrapped up the championship in just an hour and 23 minutes of singles play. As they have done all year, Amar Tahirovic and Adam Stavrakas rolled in the top two spots. Stavrakas, who won the Joe Abrahamson Memorial Award as the MVP of the tournament, was the first one done after a 6-1, 6-1 win over Nathan Nguyen at No. 2 singles. Moments later, Tahirovic finished off a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Herrick Legaspi on Court 1. Â
Stavrakas (35-3) and Tahirovic (33-3) are a combined 68-6 on the season, and one of Stavrakas' three losses came to Tahirovic in the championship match at the Patriot League qualifier for the ITA Conference Masters in the fall. Neither player lost to another Patriot League opponent all year.
The focus then turned to Courts 3 and 4, where Liam Kilmer and Bain both won their opening sets. Kilmer brought the Bison to the brink with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Luke Garner, and Bain finished off his 6-3, 6-2 win over Jake Young with a service break, setting off a big celebration from a Bison squad that had been eliminated by the Midshipmen in close semifinal matches in each of the last two seasons.Â
Championship point! 🏆 #rayBucknell🔶🔷🦬 pic.twitter.com/gpytO8Bok4
— Bucknell Men's Tennis (@Bucknell_MTEN) April 20, 2025
Bain won his 10th match in a row to improve to 19-7 on the season, and Kilmer is now 18-6 after avenging a loss to Garner two weeks ago, when Navy defeated the Bison 4-2 in their regular-season matchup. The Midshipmen went unbeaten in Patriot League play to grab the No. 1 seed, but these two teams always seemed to be on a path to meet again for the league title.
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Bucknell earned the Patriot League's automatic bid to the 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship. The full bracket will be announced Monday, Apr. 28, on NCAA.com. Gregg Cohenca and Evan Zimmer qualified for the NCAA Championship in doubles in 2012, but this will be Bucknell's first appearance in the team tournament.
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Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
12
Herrick Legaspi/ Charlie Spencer [NAVY]
40
5UF
#3 Doubles Match
#1 Singles Match
12
Herrick Legaspi / 0 [NAVY]
20
66
#2 Singles Match
12
Nathan Nguyen / 0 [NAVY]
11
66
#3 Singles Match
12
Luke Garner / 0 [NAVY]
23
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Jake Young / 0 [NAVY]
32
66
#5 Singles Match
123
Jeffrey Etterbeek / 0 [NAVY]
730
53UF
#6 Singles Match
123
Aniketh Ayinala / 0 [NAVY]
650
41UF
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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