Last week proved to be a long one for Men’s Tennis, as it took on the ITA Regionals from Thursday, Oct. 16, to Monday, Oct. 20. Six Bison left for Princeton, NJ, for the singles’ tournament in hopes of a bid to the NCAA championships later this fall. The Bison saw great results, as Liam Kilmer ’27 made it out of pre-qualifying to the main rounds and Amar Tahirovic ’26 made it as far as quarterfinals for the tournament.
Thursday kicked off for the Bison with Brendan McDonald ’26, Will Robinson ’27, Kilmer, and Oscar Bain Moreno de Vega ’26 opening in the pre-qualifying rounds, trying to make it to the main draw later in the weekend. McDonald won his opening match against Mercyhurst, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3). However, he lost his second match of the day, 6-4, 6-4 against a Penn State opponent.
Bain and Robinson lost their singles matches, with Bain having to medically forfeit his second match. Kilmer ultimately won both his matches against opponents from Saint Joseph’s and Penn State, sending him to the main rounds.
Friday started strong with a doubles victory for Tahirovic and McDonald, 8-3. However, Bain and Adam Stavrakas ’26 lost their doubles match, as did Kilmer and Robinson. Tahirovic and Stavrakas started their singles play in the afternoon after gaining a bye straight to the main rounds. Tahirovic won his Fordham match 6-1, 6-3, but Stavrakas lost 6-3, 7-5 to his Penn opponent. Kilmer, after earning his way to the main draw, retired from his match early due to injury, ending his run at the tournament.
Tahirovic and McDonald continued their doubles play on Saturday with a gruesome match against Princeton, suffering a close 8-7 (10-8) loss. Stavrakas also competed in a singles’ consolation match, where he took another loss, 6-3, 6-3. Later in the day, Tahirovic played individually for an intense three-set game against Penn State. The two players split the first two sets 6-4 each, and fought a tough battle in the third, with Tahirovic ultimately winning, sending him to the quarterfinals.
Despite his strong run for the weekend, Tahirovic lost his quarterfinal match on Monday. Matched against a Penn opponent, he fell in two sets, 6-3, 6-2.
The Bison will come back tonight for the Patriot League ITA Conference Masters Qualifiers, where they will fight for another chance to try to qualify for NCAAs.
