Bucknell Men’s Tennis ended their regular season on a high note this weekend, defeating both Lehigh and Lafayette. Despite winning by a strong point margin (5-2) on Saturday, several of the singles matches were close ones and the Bison had to fight to come back after going down 2-0 early on against Lehigh.
“We definitely felt a bit of pressure going into the Lehigh match because it was a big match that was going to decide the seeding for the Patriot League Championships,” Amar Tahirovic ’26 said. “Having a tough and close match against Navy the weekend prior to the Lehigh match really opened our eyes and showed what we’re capable of and showed how we can overcome these teams.”
Starting with the doubles matches, Lehigh won at first (4-6) and third (2-6) doubles to take the doubles point, despite an impressive 6-4 Bison win in the No. 2 match. Following these games, Lehigh grabbed the 2-0 lead with a straight-set win (3-6, 3-6) at the No. 6 singles spot. However, this lead didn’t last long as the Bison swept the next five singles matches.
“These singles wins really show the hard work we put in day in and day out. Something key that was taken away from this weekend was our resiliency and our fighting spirit when situations get tough,” Tahirovic said. “Sometimes we might not come out with our favored outcome, but one thing we will always be proud of post-matches is the way we fought and how we presented ourselves on court.”
At the No. 1 singles spot, Tahirovic put the Orange and Blue on the board for the first time, winning 6-1, 7-6. Following Tahirovic’s lead, Liam Kilmer ’27 tied up the game with straight-set wins (7-6, 6-2) at the No. 4 spot. And to finally put the Bison ahead, Tim Zelikovsky ’24 won in three sets (6-1, 3-6, 6-0) at the No. 5 spot.
Oscar Bain Moreno De Vega ‘26 continued to build the lead in the No. 3 match, finally securing the win after three sets of close back-and-forth play (7-6, 6-7, 6-2). Close behind Bain, Adam Stavrakas ’26 was the nail in the coffin for Lehigh. Stavrakas’ match also went for three sets, and he clinched the tiebreaker 9-7 to take the win.
On Sunday the Bison saw similar success, handily beating Lafayette 7-0 to finish off their regular season with a 4-2 conference record.
At the No. 2 and No. 5 singles spots, Stavrakas and Brendan McDonald ’26 both won their matches 6-0, 6-0. Similarly, on court one, Tahirovic was a 6-2, 6-2 winner to earn the Bison’s fourth point. The first point came from sweeping in the doubles matches.
At the No. 3 spot, Kilmer won 7-6, 6-2 and at the No. 6 spot, Will Robinson ’27 went for three sets, ultimately winning with a third-set super tiebreaker of 10-3 (4-6, 6-0, 10-3).
And lastly, Zelikovsky won 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 4 singles spot, reigning in his 70th career singles victory.
Looking forward, the Bison are headed to compete in the Patriot League tournament.
