The Bison women’s tennis team won their non-conference matchup against Morgan State, 5-2, on March 30. On April 3, the team cruised to a 6-1 win over Lafayette. The Bison now stand at an overall record of 11-4. This is the fourth straight season that the Bison have earned double-digit wins.

On March 30, Sofia Ayuso ’21 beat her Morgan State opponent 8-3 on court five, pushing her individual spring record to 11-3. With her fall and spring records combined, her overall record of 21-8 has her tied for 17th on the program’s single-season wins list.

On court one, Daniela Bellini ’22 took home a victory in two sets for the Bison with scores of 6-1 and 6-1. Additionally, Cayla Koch ’21 and Paige Leavy ’20 each reached their 10th singles win of the season. On court two, Koch claimed her victory with scores of 6-1 and 6-2, while Leavy won a tough battle on court three with scores of 6-2 and 7-5.

In doubles action, the Orange and Blue took two of the three matches to capture a point, marking the 12th time in the last 14 matches that the Bison were able to claim the doubles point. Leavy and Koch teamed up to improve to a 10-3 spring record after winning 6-3, while Bellini and Ayuso also finished with a 6-3 victory, improving their record to 9-3 on the season.

During the match against Lafayette, Mishi Papich ’19 fell behind early 4-0 but overcame her opponent to win 6-4 and 6-1 on court one. Also collecting victories were Ayuso and Jill Auteri ’20. In the doubles competition, the Bison secured the doubles point for the 13th time over 15 matches this season.

“I am incredibly proud of this team and am truly making the best of every last moment I have with them. The morale is high and we feel really good moving forward in the last few weeks of the season” co-captain Papich said.

Meanwhile, on the men’s side, the Bison also earned a 5-2 win in a non-conference matchup against Morgan State on March 30. The Orange and Blue improved to a record of 7-10, winning three out of their last four matches. The win demonstrated tremendous improvement for the team, as they previously lost to Morgan State by a score of 8-0 at the Temple Tournament in the fall.

Ethan Jacobs ’22 won his No. 1 singles match by scores of 7-5 and 6-4. Cooper Bradshaw ’22 competed in a tough battle, as he won 7-6 in the first set, but he fell short in the second set 7-5. In the third set, Jacobs won the tiebreaker with a 10-4 victory.

“It was a great win for the team,” Jacobs said. “We were shut out by them in the fall, so our victory shows how much we have improved over the past few months. I’m excited to see where the rest of the season is headed.”

Marwan Abaza ’21 and Ryan Jurist ’22 both won in straight sets in their respective singles matches. Abaza finished with 6-0 and 6-2 scores on court three, while Jurist finished with 6-3 and 7-5 scores on court five.

The Bison won both doubles contests, posting a 7-6 win by Alex Pedrazzini ’22 and Andrei Vitiuc ’19 on court two and a 6-2 win by Jacobs and Bradshaw on court three.  

Next up for the men’s team is a Patriot League matchup on April 6 against the Navy Midshipmen at the Varsity Courts on campus. The women will also face Navy on April 7 at 11 a.m.