Jason Cohen Named RSPA Middle States Coach of the Year; Bison Set to Host Army, Villanova this Weekend

Saturday, March 28

South Williamsport, Pa.

1 p.m.

Bucknell University

Army

Jason Cohen Named RSPA Middle States Coach of the Year; Bison Set to Host Army, Villanova this Weekend

3/27/2026 11:22:00 AM | Men's Tennis

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell head tennis coach Jason Cohen received the 2026 Racquet Sports Professionals Association Middle States College Coach of the Year award. Cohen was the 2025 Patriot League Coach of the Year after leading the Bison to their first conference title in 34 years.

Cohen has amassed a 59-30 record in his first four seasons at Bucknell. Including previous stops at Stevenson, Juniata, Colby, and Caltech, Cohen has won 278 combined men's and women's matches in his career.

A 2007 Stevenson graduate, Cohen was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 2019 in recognition of a terrific career in which he played No. 1 singles all four years and set the school record for career singles and doubles victories. A three-year team captain, he was a two-time First Team All-North Eastern Athletic Conference and was part of two NEAC team championships. Immediately after graduation, Cohen transitioned into the role of men's and women's head coach, launching his career as a highly successful college coach.

Cohen's Bucknell squad is just getting going in Patriot League play and has a key home match against Army on Saturday.

Army West Point (14-7, 2-0 PL) at Bucknell (9-8, 1-0 PL)
When: Saturday, March 28, 1 p.m.
Where: Central PA Tennis Center, South Williamsport, Pa.
LIVE RESULTS

Villanova (5-9) at Bucknell (9-8)
When: Sunday, March 29, 1 p.m.
Where: Varsity Tennis Courts, Lewisburg, Pa.
LIVE RESULTS
WATCH LIVE

Bucknell at a Glance

After posting two dominant wins over Loyola and Saint Francis last week, the Bison have two big home matches this weekend against Army and Villanova. The Army match will be a battle of two teams with Patriot League title aspirations, and with cold temperatures in the forecast for Saturday, the match will be played indoors at the Central PA Tennis Center. Sunday's home contest against Villanova is still scheduled to be played outdoors on campus.
Last Saturday's match at Loyola was the team's first Patriot League contest, and the Bison cruised to a 7-0 win behind six straight-set singles victories.
The Villanova match will be Bucknell's last non-conference contest of the regular season. The Bison finish up with Colgate, Navy, and Lehigh on successive Saturdays, leading into the Patriot League Tournament Apr. 23-26 at Lehigh.
Adam Stavrakas earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors after going 4-0 in singles/doubles against Loyola and Saint Francis. He had not played a singles match in 49 days due to an injury, but he seemed to be in top form last weekend, conceding only three games in a pair of straight-set singles wins.
Stavrakas won his fifth career PL Player of the Week honor and is now 12-7 in singles on the season.
Amar Tahirovic continues to lead the Bison with a 24-6 singles record and a 19-6 mark in doubles. Tahirovic tied Nick Bybel's school record for combined singles/doubles wins at Florida Gulf Coast, and he broke the mark at Loyola last Saturday. Tahirovic is now 107-24 in singles and 87-40 in doubles, good for a 194-64 combined record. Bybel went 192-67 in a brilliant career from 2012-16. Tahirovic now has his sights set on Bybel's record of 112 singles wins.
Liam Kilmer won twice more last week to improve to 17-7 in singles this season.
Brendan McDonald has a team-high 20 doubles wins against only six losses. Earlier this spring, McDonald became Bucknell's all-time leader in doubles wins. He is 93-35 in his career. Ryan Sandburg '09 held the previous record with 87 doubles wins.
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.

Army at a Glance/Series History

Army easily handled Lafayette and Holy Cross by 4-0 counts last Saturday to improve to 2-0 in Patriot League play and 14-7 overall.
Army has a strong 1-2 tandem in Jackson Armistead and Alan Ton, who were both All-Patriot League honorees last season.
Ton is a team-best 11-3 in spring dual matches, while Armistead is 7-5.
The only Bucknell-Army matchup in the fall tournament season was Adam Stavrakas' 6-4, 6-1 win over Jimin Jung in the quarterfinals of the Patriot League qualifier for the ITA Conference Masters.
Bucknell made history in last year's dual match at West Point. The Bison won 4-1 to snap a 34-match series losing streak that dated back to 1974. Bucknell won the doubles point and then got straight-set wins from Stavrakas over Ton (6-1, 6-4), Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega over Matias Feoli (6-4, 6-1), and Brendan McDonald over Daniel Choi (6-2, 6-1).
Bucknell is 4-34 all-time against Army. The Bison won the first three meetings before the Black Knights won 34 in a row.

Villanova at a Glance/Series History

The Wildcats are 5-9 this spring after falling 4-2 to Big East rival Marquette at home last Saturday. Villanova won the doubles point in that contest and also got a three-set singles win from Kush Anand at No. 5.
Villanova is 2-1 against Patriot League opponents, falling 6-1 at Navy before beating Colgate (4-2) and Loyola (6-1).
Cooper Gordon plays in the No. 1 singles position for the Wildcats. He dropped a three-setter last time out against Marquette after winning 6-0, 6-1 against Loyola the previous week.
Bucknell is 14-8 all-time against Villanova, including a 6-1 road win last season. Adam Stavrakas, Amar Tahirovic, and Brendan McDonald all won straight-set singles matches, and Liam Kilmer and Oscar Bain both came back to win after dropping first sets.
The only head-to-head matchup in the fall came at the ITA Northeast Regional at Princeton, where Anand and William Monahan defeated Bain and Stavrakas 8-6 in a Round of 64 doubles match.

Next Up

Bucknell's final home match of the season is set for Saturday, Apr. 4 against Colgate at 2 p.m. The contest will be preceded by Senior Day ceremonies honoring the record-setting Class of 2026.