SYRACUSE, N.Y.—Blows were traded all evening between the Colgate Men's Tennis team and Bucknell Friday at Drumlins Country Club, but the visiting Bison had the final shot in a 4-2 win.
The day of momentum shifts started in Bucknell's favor. They won by 6-2, 6-2 and 6-0 scores in doubles play to claim the team point before singles play. From there, the Raiders found their footing.
On senior day, fourth-year players
Noah Rosenblat and
Alec Dardis both shined. Rosenblat disposed of his opponent in straight sets at number two to get Colgate on the board with a 6-4, 6-3 win.
Dardis kept the trend positive for the home side when he also needed the minimum number of sets to claim a 6-1, 6-4 triumph at number four.
The match eventually came down to the number five and six matches, which is when the Bison found their game once again. Both
Rohan Gupta and
Kun Tan took their respective matches to the maximum number of sets, but could not prevail.
Scott Bickel was solid at number one, as he was just one game away from a victory when his match finished with him in the lead 6-1, 5-4 due to Bucknell clinching the team win.
THE RUNDOWN
Singles
Scott Bickel (Colgate) vs Ethan Jacobs (Bucknell) 6-1, 5-4 DNF
Noah Rosenblat (Colgate) d. Max McDonald (Bucknell) 6-4, 6-3
Marwan Abaza (Bucknell) d.
Peter Hartman (Colgate) 6-3, 6-4
Alec Dardis (Colgate) d. Andrei Vitiuc (Bucknell) 6-1, 6-4
Ryan Jurist (Bucknell) d.
Rohan Gupta (Colgate) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Cooper Bradshaw (Bucknell) d.
Kun Tan (Colgate) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
Doubles
McDonald/Abaza (Bucknell) d. Bickel/Hartman (Colgate) 6-2
Vitiuc/Jurist (Bucknell) d. Rosenblat/Tan (Colgate) 6-2
Bradshaw/Jacobs (Bucknell) d. Gupta/
Jack Ablon (Colgate) 6-0
FROM THE SOURCE
Head Men's and Women's Tennis Coach
Bobby Pennington
"Complete and utter heartbreaker for the men today against Bucknell. This match was a microcosm of our season as a whole so far."
"We have been so blessed and fortunate to have five straight seasons with really great records, where we won a ton of 4-3 decisions. Our luck simply ran out this year due to a combination of sickness and injuries, a tough schedule, weather etc."
"Bucknell wanted it badly, as this is the first time since 2013 that they have beat us in the regular season. It was a tale of three matches in one. We played atrocious in doubles, dropping the point quickly. Our senior captains Rosenbalt and Dardis get game balls for both winning in straight sets for us to go up 2-1. Hartman lost a tough two sets and the whole match came down to Gupta and Tan in their third sets and they both came up short. Credit to Bickel, as he looked great at #1. We have to regroup and figure things out pre-Boston."
UP NEXT
The Raiders close the regular season Sunday against Patriot League foe Boston University. Start time is set for 1 p.m. from the J.W. Abrahamson Courts in Hamilton.
