Bucknell Men’s Tennis beat Colgate this past Friday night at Drumlins Tennis Center. The victory was Bucknell’s twelfth straight win, signifying the fifth-longest winning streak in Bison history. 

Brendan McDonald ’26, Amar Tahirovic ’26, Michael Owen ’23 and Tim Zelikovsky ’24 each contributed significantly, winning both doubles and singles.  

This was the first match the Bison had played in almost two weeks and marked their second Patriot League win of the season. 

The Bison gained an early lead, earning the doubles point for the thirteenth time in a row. Owen and Nick Mueller ’23 coupled up in the No. 1 doubles spot to defeat Colgate’s No. 1 doubles team with a final score of 6-1. 

The Bison won in the number-two doubles matchup as well, as Tahirovic and Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega ’26 worked together to defeat their opponents 6-4.  Zelikovski and McDonald were triumphant as well in the third doubles position with an ending score of 7-5.  Tahirovic had a standout match, improving to 21-7 overall with his sixth win in a row. 

Notably, Tahirovic competed throughout all of March without dropping a set. In his singles set, he defeated his Colgate opponent 6-0 and 6-4. The Bison were victorious in other singles sets as well, including No. 3 Owen, No. 4 Zelikovsky and No. 5 McDonald.  

Owen and Zelikovsky both won their matches back-to-back in just two sets, while McDonald initially went down before coming back to win the last two sets in a row. 

“This year has been the Bison’s most successful year this century, and we proved that against Colgate,” Zelikovsky said. “We knew we were the better team before we even stepped on court. Brendan and I were down 2-5 in doubles on court three, and seeing the Bison clinch the doubles point helped us fight back and win five games in a row to win 7-5. I’m really proud of our Freshman Amar Tahirovic for consistently putting up singles wins at the No. 2 and No. 1 spot against tough opponents, as well as his performance in doubles.”

Unfortunately, the Bison win streak came to an end on Saturday. Bucknell Men’s Tennis faced off against Boston University at the same location as Friday’s match.  The Boston University Terriers won by clinching the doubles point and then winning the first three singles matches to bring the final score to 4-0.  

This loss signified the Bison’s most recent loss since they began their win streak against Drexel on Feb 5.  Additionally, the team had a 13-match doubles win streak that came to a conclusion against the Terriers. 

The Boston University men were victorious in both the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches, while the Bison held strong and came out on top in the No. 1 doubles match. Following this match, Bucknell is now 12-5 overall and 2-1 in Patriot League play. 

“It was definitely disappointing for the Bison to lose our 12-match winning streak, especially to a team we rolled over last year twice in a row,” Zelikovsky said. “They were louder than us and also had the advantage of indoor tennis, which they won’t have during the Patriot League tournament as it is held outdoors. So we know we’ll get another strike at them during the tournament. We’re keeping our heads high and looking ahead to our match at home against Navy this upcoming Saturday, for which we’ve been waiting for all season. All of us are bloodthirsty for the Patriot League title, and this is the year we are going to get it.”

The Bison men look ahead to their next match, this time at home, against Navy next Saturday.