Lehigh Edged by Bucknell in Intense Postseason Battle

Friday, April 21

Annapolis, Md.

1:30 p.m.

Lehigh University

Bucknell University

Lehigh Edged by Bucknell in Intense Postseason Battle

4/21/2017 5:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis

RESULTS

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – After a gritty battle in the quarterfinal round of the Patriot League Tournament that came down to the wire, the No. 3 Mountain Hawks saw their season come to close as No. 6 Bucknell edged out a 4-3 victory on Friday at the Tose Family Tennis Center. Lehigh finishes the season with an overall record of 7-13 and Bucknell improves to 10-17.

The match came down to the No. 2 singles flight which featured Jack Petersen and Max Palmer in a rematch from their regular season meeting five days earlier. Their match once again went the full three sets with Palmer avenging his previous loss to Petersen with a 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 6-4 victory to clinch the overall victory for Bucknell and advance the Bison into the semifinal round.

Petersen closes out his junior season with an overall dual match singles record of 8-13 while playing primarily at the No. 2 spot.

Senior Ethan Bogard recorded the first singles win of the match and knotted up the team score at 1-1 after Bucknell won the doubles point. Bogard edged out Max McDonald in the first set, 7-5, before closing him out with a 6-3 victory in the second. Bogard led the team in singles wins this season as he finished his senior campaign with an overall record of 10-4. The senior ends his career with a 43-19 singles record in dual matches.

Bogard's doubles partner and fellow senior, Colin Nardella, also closed out his career with a win. Nardella made the team score 2-2 following his 7-5, 7-5 victory over Max Kane at the No. 4 flight. The senior finished second on the team in wins the season with a record of 9-9. The New York native finishes his career with the Brown and White with an overall dual match record of 22-15.

After falling again behind in the team score, Lehigh got a boost from freshman Jack Martin-Dyer, who tied up the score, 3-3, with his victory at third flight. The Martin-Dyer battled through three lopsided sets to ultimately prevail against Andrei Vitiuc by a final score of 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. The freshman finishes his first season as a Mountain Hawk with an overall dual match record of 5-5.

The Mountain Hawks return a talented and experienced core of players next season. LU will look to rely on the likes of George Cooper, Petersen, Martin-Dyer and Christopher Auteri, who were all regular starters and were in the postseason lineup on Friday.

Doubles
1. Bryan Adams/Andrei Vitiuc (BUCKNELL) def. Cooper, George/Lehman, Graham (LEH) 6-4
2. Bogard, Ethan/Nardella, Colin (LEH) vs. Ben Gerber/Daniel Wright (BUCKNELL) 3-5, unfinished
3. Max Haase/Max Kane (BUCKNELL) def. Martin-Dyer, Jack/Petersen, Jack (LEH) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1)
Singles
1. Daniel Wright (BUCKNELL) def. Cooper, George (LEH) 6-4, 7-5
2. Max Palmer (BUCKNELL) def. Petersen, Jack (LEH) 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 6-4
3. Martin-Dyer, Jack (LEH) def. Andrei Vitiuc (BUCKNELL) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
4. Nardella, Colin (LEH) def. Max Kane (BUCKNELL) 7-5, 7-5
5. Bryan Adams (BUCKNELL) def. Auteri, Chris (LEH) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
6. Bogard, Ethan (LEH) def. Max McDonald (BUCKNELL) 7-5, 6-3
Order of finish: Singles (6,1,4,5,3,)