\ELON, N.C. – In a hard-fought battle at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, the Elon University men's tennis team came up short against Bucknell, falling 5-2 on Tuesday afternoon. Despite strong performances in singles play, the Phoenix were unable to overcome the Bison after dropping the crucial doubles point.

Bucknell took control early, winning two of the three doubles matches to secure the opening point. While Veljko Krstic and Oskar Antinheimo earned a 6-4 victory on Court 1, the Bison secured wins on Courts 2 and 3 to take a 1-0 lead into singles action.

In singles, Jack Curtis fought back in a three-set battle, defeating Brendan McDonald 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 singles. Juan Sengariz put together a dominant performance at No. 6, securing a 6-2, 6-2 win to give Elon its second point of the match.

However, Bucknell claimed victories on Courts 3 and 4 to take a 3-2 lead and both Veljko Krstic and Rafael Ymer fell 7-5 in narrow third-set decisions for the 5-2 score.

Bucknell improves to 9-4 with the win, while Elon's two-match winning streak is snapped. The Phoenix fall to 3-6 and will host Gardner-Webb Monday at 1:00 p.m.

Doubles
No. 1 Krstic/Antinheimo (Elon) def. Tahirovic/McDonald (Bucknell) 6-4
No. 2 Bain Moreno de Vega/Stavrakas (Bucknell) def. Ymer/Curtis (Elon) 6-4
No. 3 Kilmer/Alapi (Bucknell) def. Pilet/Sengariz (Elon) 6-4

Singles
No. 1 Tahirovic (Bucknell) def. Krstic (Elon) 6-0, 3-6, 7-5
No. 2 Stavrakas (Bucknell) def. Ymer (Elon) 6-4, 6-7 (1), 7-5
No. 3 Bain Moreno de Vega (Bucknell) def. Antinheimo (Elon) 6-3, 7-5
No. 4 Kilmer (Bucknell) def. Pilet (Elon) 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 Curtis (Elon) def. McDonald (Bucknell) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
No. 6 Sengariz (Elon) def. Alapi (Bucknell) 6-2, 6-2