The men’s and women’s tennis teams opened their 2017 season by hosting the Bucknell Fall Invite. The women’s team finished the tournament with two titles, while the men’s team finished with four.

On the first day of the Invite, the women’s team sent eight girls in singles play and four double teams to the quarterfinal round.

In Flight 1, Cayla Koch ’21 kicked off her college career with a strong victory. Lisa Jouravleva ’18 also received a bye. In Flight 2, Schuyler La Barge ’21 won her match with a 3-6, 6-1 (10-5) victory. Mishi Papich ’19 finished the bottom half winning her match and Madeline Melch ’18 also won. In Flight 3, Danielle Gannon ’19, Emilie Bush ’18 and Rachel Carroll ’21 all won their first matches.

Papich and Paige Leavy ’20 paired up for a 6-4 win while the three other doubles teams all received byes for their first matches.

On day two, Papich and Carroll made their way to the championship rounds of each of their flights. Jill Auteri ’20 and Gannon also took their doubles team to the championship match of the Fall Invite.

On the final day, Papich won her fourth victory, claiming the singles title. Auteri and Gannon also went on to grab the doubles championship title for the Orange and Blue.

“Overall, I think this weekend was a great start for our fall season. The first tournament back is always especially tough because we play so many matches over the course of three days. We’ve been working really hard over the summer and these last few weeks at school and I think that definitely showed this weekend,” Bush said.

The Bison men’s team was also successful, sending at least one player for every singles flight to the semifinals and at least one doubles team in each flight to the finals on Sept. 9 at the Bucknell Fall Invite.

“It was a really great showing by all of the guys this weekend. We won four of the six draws at the tournament and played some pretty solid tennis,” Timber Erskine ’18 said. Erskine took home two of the four titles for the men’s team.

Bison locked in one title immediately by advancing two teams to the championship in Flight 2 for doubles.

Erskine and Drew Krantz ’21 won two matches on Sept. 9. Additionally, Max McDonald ’19 and Colin Sacco ’20 won three matches.

Dan Wright ’18 could not be stopped on day two as he added a win in Flight 1. Max Kane ’18 also won his match and advanced to the semifinals. In Flight 2, McDonald came from behind in both his matches and was able to secure victories. The Bison placed a player in the semifinals in both halves of the bracket in Flight 3 singles as Sacco and Max Garramone ’21 both had victories.

On  Sept. 10, Kane, Sacco and Erskine all won titles for singles flights. Erskine and Kantz also took first for doubles.

Erskine was coming off an injury that kept him from playing most of last year.

“Personally, it was awesome to get back out on the court. We performed well as a group and I look forward to building on it as we move on with our fall season,” Erskine said.