Men's Tennis Hosts Mount St. Mary's Saturday, Sunday's Match vs. Saint Francis Postponed

Saturday, January 24

South Williamsport, Pa.

1 p.m.

Bucknell University

Mount St. Mary's

Men's Tennis Hosts Mount St. Mary's Saturday, Sunday's Match vs. Saint Francis Postponed

1/22/2026 12:59:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Bucknell (0-1) vs. Mount St. Mary's (0-0)
When: Saturday, Jan. 24, 1 p.m.
Where: Central PA Tennis Center, South Williamsport, Pa.
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell opens the home portion of its 2026 dual-match schedule against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday its indoor facility, the Central PA Tennis Center in South Williamsport. The Bison were also scheduled to host Saint Francis on Sunday, but that match has been postponed until March 22 due to the threat of a snowstorm in the area on Sunday.
Bucknell made its spring debut last Friday at 10th-ranked Columbia and fell by a 7-0 count to the Ivy League power. The Lions, who have reached the NCAA quarterfinals in each of the last two seasons, had two ranked players in the singles lineup with a third – No. 1 Michael Zheng – missing while he advanced to the second round of the Australian Open.
Amar Tahirovic locked up in a good battle with No. 52 Nicolas Kotzen at No. 1 singles. After dropping the first set 6-2, Tahirovic played brilliantly in the second and cruised 6-1. They were on serve at 2-3 in the third, but Kotzen won a couple of key deuce points and went on to take the deciding set 6-3.
The Bison are schedule to play 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 (82-33) are third-most in team history, trailing only Ryan Sandburg (87) and Josh Katten (83). Tahirovic's career singles record is 94-23, 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 has 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.

Mount St. Mary's at a Glance/Series History

Bucknell is 20-2 all-time against Mount St. Mary's in a series that dates back to 1992. The Mountaineers won the first two matches, and the Bison have won the last 20. Last year's scheduled match was rained out.
The last meeting was in February 2024, and the Bison won 7-0 at the Central PA Tennis Center. Amar Tahirovic (1), Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega (3), Brendan McDonald (4), Liam Kilmer (5), and Tim Zelikovsky (6) all won in straight sets after Bucknell swept the doubles.
This will be Mount St. Mary's first dual match of the spring. The Mount competed in four fall tournaments and posted a combined record of 16-23 in singles and 9-9 in doubles. Ryan Wagner went 3-0 in singles, while Alexi Roy, Nate Helms, Daniel Haddadin, and Akarsh Goenkar all went 2-2. Roy has a team-best 16-11 career record.
The sophomore Roy and freshman Stefanos Pournaropoulous represented the team at the MAAC Masters tournament and the ITA Atlantic Regional at Virginia Tech.
The Mount went 13-7 overall and 5-3 in MAAC play last season. They were the No. 4 seed at the MAAC Championship but dropped a 4-1 decision to No. 5 Niagara in the first round.