Men's Tennis Faces Two Top-75 Teams in Philadelphia This Weekend

Saturday, February 21

Philadelphia, Pa.

6 p.m.

Bucknell University

Saint Joseph's

Photo by: Keith Lucas

Men's Tennis Faces Two Top-75 Teams in Philadelphia This Weekend

2/19/2026 2:50:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Bucknell (6-2) at #73 Saint Joseph's (4-7)
When: Saturday, Feb. 21, 6 p.m.
Where: Springton Tennis Club, Media, Pa.
LIVE RESULTS

Bucknell (6-2) at #69 Drexel (4-1)
When: Sunday, Feb. 22, 11 a.m.
Where: Vidas Courts, Philadelphia, Pa.

Bucknell at a Glance

After playing five straight matches at home, the Bison head to Philadelphia this weekend to face a pair of teams now in the ITA top-75 rankings. Bucknell visits No. 73 Saint Joseph's on Saturday night and No. 69 Drexel on Sunday.
The Bison have won four in a row to get to 6-2 on the season. Last weekend they dispatched Georgetown and DIII No. 11 Johns Hopkins, both by 5-2 counts.
Bucknell had been just 2-11 all-time against Georgetown, with the last win coming in 1988. This time around the Bison won the doubles point and then got singles wins from Amar Tahirovic (1), Liam Kilmer (2), Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega (5), and Will Robinson (6). Both singles losses came in third-set super tiebreakers.
In the Johns Hopkins match, the Bison had to battle back after dropping the doubles point, winning five of the six singles matches. With the regular top-two pair of Tahirovic and Adam Stavrakas out of the lineup, Kilmer moved up to No. 1 for the first time and came from behind to beat 2025 NCAA DIII quarterfinalist Chakor Rajendra 6-7, 6-4, 6-0. That helped Kilmer earn his first career Patriot League Player of the Week award.
McDonald made some history on Sunday when he teamed with Bain for a 7-6 (7-4) win over Dylan Blenkiron and Brian Yi. It was McDonald's 87th career doubles win, which equals Ryan Sandburg's school record that has been in the books since 2009.
Robinson brings a team-best seven-match winning streak into the weekend. Robinson is now 7-1 in duals this spring, with the only loss coming at No. 10 Columbia.
Bain enjoyed a perfect 4-0 weekend against Georgetown and Johns Hopkins. He has now won four straight singles matches and five straight doubles matches.
Tahirovic has won six in a row to improve to 17-5 over the full season and 6-1 in duals. Tahirovic has won two PL Player of the Week awards this spring, giving him a league-record eight in his career.
Tahirovic's singles win against Georgetown's Arthur O'Sullivan was the 100th of his career. He is now 100-23, and he needs 12 more wins to equal Nick Bybel's school record of 112, set from 2012-16. Tahirovic ranks 3rd all-time in doubles victories with 82. 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 182.
Tahirovic 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.

Saint Joseph's at a Glance/Series History

The Hawks debuted at No. 73 in this week's ITA team rankings. They are just 4-7 on the season, but it's come against a very tough schedule with the losses coming to No. 1 Wake Forest, Elon, Oral Roberts, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Penn, and Navy. Most recently, Saint Joe's beat a good NJIT squad 5-2 on the road last Saturday.
Othman Bezzaz and Ernesto Ruy were named to the Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Team last week. That duo was ranked No. 70 in the ITA doubles rankings back in the fall. Both were Second Team All-A10 selections last season.
Saint Joe's dropped the doubles point against NJIT but then won five of the six singles matches, all in three sets. Santiago Valle and Damir Abdusamadov both came from behind to win at 1 and 2 singles after dropping their first sets.
Players from Bucknell and Saint Joseph's met twice in fall tournament action. Liam Kilmer beat Valle 6-4, 7-5 in the second qualifying round at the ITA Northeast Regional at Princeton. Nelson Alapi fell 3-6, 6-1, 11-9 to Jakob Gaudreau at the Navy Invitational in November.
Bucknell is 23-2 all-time against Saint Joseph's in a series that dates back to 1958.
The Bison won 4-3 at the Central PA Tennis Center last season. All three doubles matches were tight, with the Hawks winning 7-6 at No. 1 and 7-5 at No. 3, and Bucknell winning 7-6 at No. 2. The Bison got straight-set singles wins from Amer Tahirovic (1), Adam Stavrakas (2), Kilmer (4) and Alapi (6) to pull out the team win.

Drexel at a Glance/Series History

The 69th-ranked Dragons are 4-1 this spring, with their only loss a 4-2 verdict to Saint Joseph's in the season opener. Since then they have beaten Morgan State (7-0), Villanova (7-0), Rider (6-1), and Temple (6-1). Drexel visits Navy on Friday before the Bison visit on Sunday.
The No. 1 doubles tandem of Will Burridge and Tarek Mo Erlewein have won a pair of CAA Doubles Team of the Week honors this this season. Burridge was a Third Team All-CAA selection as a sophomore last season when he won 17 matches.
Bucknell is 5-4 all-time against Drexel, including a 4-3 win in Philadelphia two seasons ago.
The Dragons won 5-2 in South Williamsport last season. Amar Tahirovic and Adam Stavrakas won handily in the top two singles spots – Stavrakas beat Hussein El Tawil 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 – but Drexel earned key three-set wins on Courts 3 and 4.

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