The Bucknell Men’s Tennis Team traveled to Charlottesville, Va., last week for ITA Regionals on Oct. 19–21. These singles and doubles marked the end of the fall season for the Bison. 

On the first day, Michael Owen ’23 and Adam Stavrakos ’26 both won two matches, advancing them to the Bronze round of 16, which is the final round of prequalifying.  

In both matches on Wednesday, Owen defeated his opponents. He defeated his first opponent (6-3, 6-1) and his second (6-3, 6-2). Similarly, Stavrakos had triumphs over his George Mason opponent (6-2, 7-6, 7-2) and Mount St. Mary’s opponent (6-1, 4-6, 6-1). For Stavrakas, this tournament was his collegiate debut. 

Additional Orange and Blue competitors on day one were Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega ’26 and Brendan McDonald ’26. Moreno de Vega won his opening-round match against the Mount St. Marys opponent (6-2, 7-5), but unfortunately lost to a Saint Joseph’s player (4-6, 3-6). For McDonald, he also endured a defeat by Villanova’s player (6-2, 1-6, 2-6). 

After the singles matches on Wednesday, the Bronze Draw doubles also began. The Bison had three doubles teams in the bracket: Tim Zelilovsky ’24 and Amar Tahirovic ’26, Owen and Stavrakas and McDonald and Bain Moreno de Vega. The teams of Zelilovsky and Tahirovic and Owen and Stavrakas had first-round byes, as McDonald and Bain Moreno de Vega fell to Duquesne (3-8).

On Thursday, the Bison came out strong again and battled hard against their next matches. For Stavrakas, he remained unbeaten in singles after the first two days. 

Stavrakas, a freshman from Athens, Greece, started his Thursday with a Round of 16 match in the Bronze Draw, and defeated his Villanova opponent(7-5, 6-3). This win advanced him to the Silver Draw. Once entering, Stavrakas beat Duquesne in the first-round match in the Silver Draw (6-1, 6-4). Heading into the final day Stavrakas’ record was 4-0. 

His teammate, Owen, who had won twice on Wednesday, fell to George Mason (3-6, 4-6) on Thursday. Additionally, Zelikovsky and Tahirovic both had byes in the first matches in the Silver Draw, but unfortunately both lost. 

For the doubles teams on Thursday both Owen and Stavrakas, and Zelikovsky and Tahirovic, had byes into the second round. Team Owen and Stavrakas won 8-3 against Duquesne, but the Bucknell duo fell 2-8 to George Mason. As for team Zelikovsky and Tahirovic, they lost in a close 3-7 tiebreaker against George Mason in an overall match score of 7-8. 

With the day coming to an end, the all-freshman duo McDonald and Bain Moreno de Vega took home a huge win over Villanova. 

At the start of Friday, the final day of matches, Stavrakas won his fifth straight match. He was triumphant over his Temple opponent (6-3, 6-3), and advanced to the Round of 16. For this round, the top eight from the Silver Draw move into the Gold Draw to play for the championship. Unfortunately, Stavrakas was eliminated by Virginia Tech (2-6, 3-6). Ending his first tournament as a Bison, Stavrakas finished with a record of 5-1. 

Two Bucknell players, Tahirovic and Zelikovsky, received byes for the Silver Draw and played consolation matches. Tahirovic was successful against Richmond’s Daniel Kliebhan (6-1, 6-1), while Zelikovsky also had success in defeating his William and Mary opponent (6-4, 7-6, (7-3)). 

With the conclusion to a successful tournament and fall season, the Bucknell Men’s Tennis Team is going to continue to train hard and prepare for the spring season, under new head coach Jason Cohen.