Men's Tennis Makes Spring Debut Friday at No. 10 Columbia

Bucknell (0-0) vs. #10 Columbia (0-0)
When: Friday, Nov. 16, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Philip & Cheryl Milstein Family Tennis Center, New York, N.Y.
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Bucknell at a Glance

The Bison kick off the spring campaign on Friday with a trip to New York City to face Ivy League power Columbia, which is currently ranked No. 10 in the ITA men's team rankings.
This is the first of 22 dual matches on a busy spring slate. Bucknell will play exclusively non-conference competition through the second week in March, culminating with a Spring Break trip to Florida to face Rollins, Stetson, and Florida Gulf Coast. The Bison will also have duals against the likes of Delaware, Temple, Georgetown, and an NJIT squad that finished 18-4 last season.
In Patriot League play at the end of the regular season, Bucknell will host Army and Colgate and travel to Loyola, Navy, and Lehigh. A rematch of last year's Patriot League Tournament final between the Bison and Midshipmen will take place on Apr. 11 in Annapolis.
The Bison wrap up the regular season at Lehigh on Apr. 18, and then they will head right back to Bethlehem the following week for the Patriot League Tournament. The first-round match will be played on Thursday, Apr. 23, with the finals set for Sunday, Apr. 26.
Bucknell returns virtually its entire roster from last year's championship squad, including Patriot League Player of the Year Amar Tahirovic, PL Tournament MVP and First Team All-PL selection Adam Stavrakas, and fellow seniors Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega and Brendan McDonald. The senior class has combined for 271 singles wins and 269 doubles wins.
McDonald and Tahirovic are both on record watch this spring. McDonald's 82 career doubles wins (82-32) are third-most in team history, trailing only Ryan Sandburg (87) and Josh Katten (83). Tahirovic's career singles record is 94-22, and he needs 18 more wins to equal Nick Bybel's mark of 112, set from 2012-16. Tahirovic ranks fifth all-time in doubles victories with 77. He will also have a chance to surpass Sandburg's record, but McDonald will remain ahead of him as long as Bucknell's No. 1 duo continues to partner together.
Tahirovic is also within range of the Bucknell record for combined singles and doubles victories. Bybel holds the record with 192, and Tahirovic enters the spring with 171.
Tahirovic went 11-4 in the fall, playing in three major ITA tournaments. He and McDonald came one win away from an NCAA doubles bid with a big run at the ITA Conference Masters in San Diego. They won the Patriot League qualifier and then beat pairs from Boise State, UC Santa Barbara and Presbyterian to reach the semifinals. McDonald was honored with the ITA Sportsmanship Award at that event.
Tahirovic also represented the Patriot League in singles at the ITA Conference Masters, where he beat reigning Big East Player of the Year Alejandro Gandini of DePaul in the first round before falling to Martin Birisiouk of N.C. State in three sets in the round of 16. Earlier in the fall, he played in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., where he dropped tight matches to opponents from TCU and Baylor, and he won twice in the main draw at the ITA Northeast Regional at Princeton.
Stavrakas went 9-5 in singles in the fall, including a 3-0 mark at the River City Open at Richmond. Stavrakas also played at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, where he fell to opponents from Florida and Wake Forest.

Columbia at a Glance/Series History

This will be the first-ever dual match between Bucknell and Columbia.
There was just one Bucknell-Columbia match on the fall tournament slate, with Amar Tahirovic defeating Aditya Govila 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the ITA Northeast Regional at Princeton.
Columbia features the best men's collegiate player in the country in Michael Zheng, a four-time All-American who has won the last two NCAA singles titles. Zheng will not be in the lineup on Friday, however, as he made it through qualifying to reach the main draw at the Australian Open.
The Lions have two other ranked singles players in No. 52 Nicolas Kotzen and No. 65 Sachin Palta. Govila and Thanaphat Boosarawongse are ranked No. 37 nationally in doubles.
Columbia is coming off back-to-back NCAA quarterfinal appearances. The Lions went 20-5 last season, including a 7-0 Ivy League record. Their only losses came against No. 11 Stanford, No. 4 Ohio State, No. 21 Pepperdine, and No. 1 Wake Forest twice, the latter coming in the NCAA quarters.

Next Up

Bucknell opens the home portion of the 2026 schedule next weekend. The Bison host Mount St. Mary's next Saturday and Saint Francis on Sunday. First serve for both matches will be at 1 p.m. at the Central PA Tennis Center in South Williamsport.