Last weekend brought historic excitement for Bison men’s tennis as they took victory over Army, 4-1. After 34 matches, this became the first Bison win over the Black Knights since 1974. To add to the celebration, the Orange & Blue also defeated Fairfield, 4-2, later in the evening.
On Saturday, Feb. 1, the Bison took to the courts at the Lichtenberg Tennis Center. The team started strong with two doubles wins and an unfinished match. Adam Stavrakas ’26 and Oscar Bain Morena de Vega ’26 won their doubles match together at the No. 2 spot against the Black Knights, 6-1. Dynamic duo Amar Tahirovic ’26 and Brendan McDonald ’26 also took on Army with a 6-1 win. Pair Nelson Alapi ’28 and Liam Kilmer ’27 tied 4-4 in the first set, but ultimately left the match unfinished.
Singles also produced victories for the team. Stavrakas won in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. McDonald and Bain followed suit by winning their singles 6-2, 6-1, and 6-4, 6-1 respectively. Kilmer and Tahirovic were also in the process of securing their singles games as the Bison clinched the whole match, leaving them unfinished.
Saturday also produced fruitful results at Fairfield, winning 4-2. Tahirovic and McDonald clinched the doubles point for the Orange & Blue, finishing 7-5. Stavrakas and Bain following suit finished 7-5 as well for their match.
Stavrakas continued this momentum by taking a singles win against his opponent in straight sets 6-2, 6-1; he won every match he played over the weekend. Tahirovic also contributed singles success with his 6-3, 6-1 sweep. With the score at 3-2 for the Bison, all eyes turned towards No. 6 Shiv Singh’s ’28 nail-biting clincher. Set up against his Fairfield opponent, Singh lost the first set 6-4. After a quick regroup, Singh came back to lead the second set and take it 6-3, taking it to three. While he started the tiebreaker trailing 3-4, Singh came back victorious, finishing 6-4. This led the Bison to their second team win of the day.
The Orange & Blue will be back in action this weekend at the Central Pennsylvania Tennis Center in matchups against John Hopkins and Rider.
