DRAWS
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Amar Tahirovic and Brendan McDonald will represent the Patriot League at the ITA Conference Masters Championships for the second straight year after repeating as singles and doubles champions in the PL qualifier at Lehigh on Sunday.
The senior duo began the day with an 8-5 doubles win over Jakob Esterowitz and Payton Jim On of Boston University, capping a 3-0 weekend for the top seed. Tahirovic and McDonald are now 6-2 on the season and will look to continue their strong play in San Diego in two weeks.
It was an all-Bucknell singles final for the second straight year, as No. 1 seed Tahirovic outlasted No. 3 Stavrakas 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. Tahirovic, ranked No. 43 nationally and the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, dropped only one set in the tournament, and that was to his own teammate. After playing the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa and the ITA Northeast Regional at Princeton, Tahirovic will now be headed to his third high-level ITA competition of the fall season.
The ITA Conference Masters will be held in San Diego Nov. 6-9, and the tournament will feature representatives from every Division I conference. It serves as a qualifier for the NCAA Championships at the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona, Fla., Nov. 18-23. The four singles semifinalists and the top three doubles teams qualify for NCAAs.
Last year’s ITA Conference Masters was held in Rome, Ga., and Tahirovic won twice in singles to reach the quarterfinals, but he fell one win shy of the NCAA bid when he lost 6-3, 6-2 to top-seeded Sebastian Dominko of Notre Dame. On day one of the event, he earned straight set victories over Eduardo Dias of Gardner Webb and Joseph Wayand of UNC Wilmington. In doubles, Tahirovic and McDonald won their first-round match in straight sets against a duo from Weber State, but they fell 6-2, 6-2 to reigning NCAA quarterfinalists Petar Jovanovic and Benito Sanchez-Martinez of Mississippi State in the second round.
