This past weekend the Orange and Blue men’s tennis team competed for the first time with their new head coach, Jason Cohen. 

Cohen stepped into the position previously held by Bruce Myers, who was head coach of the Bison for six seasons. 

The Bison proved themselves to their new coach, finding much success in the Bucknell Invitational. Rookies Amar Tahirovic ’26 and Brendan McDonald ’26 won both their singles matches on Friday. Tahirovic won his match 6-0, 6-0 against his opponent from Lafayette, and McDonald claimed a 6-2, 6-0 win over a Mount St. Mary’s player. 

Nick Mueller ’23, Ink Chen ’24 and Per Astrom ’23 also came out victorious in their singles matches on Friday. Mueller, against a St. Francis (PA) player, won 6-4, 6-4. Chen defeated his Lafayette opponent 6-4, 6-1 and Astrom, facing a Mount St. Mary’s player, claimed a 6-4, 5-7, 11-9 victory. 

The rookie and veteran players, McDonald and Mueller, teamed up in doubles on Friday as well, defeating St. Francis players 7-5 in the match. 

On Saturday, the McDonald-Mueller duo came out victorious again, winning the doubles title for the tournament.

In the singles matches on Saturday, Tahirovic reigned victorious in the A singles, winning the tournament after defeating a St. Francis player and Lafayette player. The score of the final game was 6-2, 6-1, an easy win for the rookie. McDonald won the B singles, also very easily, defeating a Mount St. Mary’s player 6-2, 6-2.

Michael Owen ’23 also won the consolation draw. 

McDonald spoke on the weekend. “This weekend’s invitational was a promising start to this season. Having the home crowd support definitely helped the team and brought a lot of energy. Under our new head coach, I believe the team has an important piece that will lead us to a very successful season. We are excited and motivated as we move onto this weekend,” McDonald said. 

This weekend, the men’s team will compete at the Villanova Invitational, Sept. 9-11.