The past weekend was a rough start for the Bison men’s tennis team. The team traveled to West Long Branch, N.J. to compete against Monmouth University, ultimately falling to the Hawks by a score of 6-1. The loss on Saturday brought the men’s record to 1-3 in the early season.

Michael Owen ’23 provided the team with their only victory against Monmouth, winning 7-6, 6-4 in singles to improve his individual record to 5-1 on the season. Owen has not lost a singles match since the season opener against Fordham. Guillermo Torres ’23 also had an impressive singles match on Saturday. Unfortunately, Torres ultimately fell in scores of 6-1, 4-6, and 10-7.

Saturday also proved tough for number-one singles Marwan Abaza ’21, who lost his first singles match of the season 7-6, 6-2. Abaza now holds an admirable 5-1 record this spring in singles play.

The Bison had an impressive bounce back after a tough loss Saturday, improving to 2-3 on Sunday after an exciting 5-2 victory over Saint Francis. The day was full of memorable doubles performances, as all three pairings won their respective matchups. Abaza came back Sunday with an impressive 6-2, 6-0 win in first singles.

Ryan Jurist ’22 claimed his fourth victory of the season 6-3, 7-5 and had another powerful outing as he won his sixth straight singles match 6-3, 6-2.

Cooper Bradshaw ’22 and Owen improved to 4-1 in number one doubles with another win on Sunday. The pair lost their only match of the season on Saturday at Monmouth.

Torres and Per Astrom ’23 enjoyed a victory in their doubles match, their first match together on the season.

After a big win Sunday, the Bison have some time off before their next match. The Bison will begin competition again on Feb. 21 when they host La Salle at the Central Pennsylvania Tennis Center.  They will also face strong competitors in The University of Connecticut, Marist and Penn State.