April 21, 2008

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Sophomore Tania Varela (Quito, Ecuador/Alliance Academy) of the Bucknell women's tennis team notched Damon's Bison Athlete of the Week honors on Monday, after winning two singles matches and two doubles matches at the Patriot League Tournament this weekend, while playing at the No. 1 position.

Bucknell opened the tournament with its semifinal match against Colgate on Saturday, April 19. In the 4-0 win, Varela and her partner, freshman Lauren Lucido (Woodstock, Md./St. Paul's School for Girls) defeated Colgate's Elise DeRose and Sam Inacker by a score of 8-1 at the first position. Varela went on to take her second win of the day, at No. 1 singles, against DeRose, 6-1, 6-1, to help Bucknell advance to the championship on Sunday, April 20.

As the second-seeded Bison played first-seeded Army in the championship match for the fourth consecutive season, Varela picked up a win at No. 1 doubles and No. 1 singles, to help make the match one of the closest in Patriot League championship history. After entering singles play with a 1-0 advantage over Army, in the end Bucknell fell, 4-3, to the Black Knights. Varela and Lucido defeated Niki Flach and Anne Houghton by a score of 8-6 at No. 1 doubles and Varela went on to win her match at No. 1 singles against Houghton, 7-6, 5-7, 6-0.

On the season, Varela is currently riding a four-match winning streak in both singles and doubles. She owns a singles record of 9-4 at No. 1 and a 10-3 record at No. 1 doubles when paired with Lucido. Varela paired with junior Paulina Gamboa (Mexico City, Mexico/Greengates School) once at No. 1 singles, for a record of 1-0. In the record books, Varela ranks 10th for career doubles victories (40), ties for 13th in combined victories (68) and is 10th for combined winning percentage (.687).

The Bucknell women's tennis team (9-10, 4-2 PL) is set to close out the 2008 season this week, hosting Delaware on Tuesday, April 22, for Senior Day, and traveling to Bloomsburg on Wednesday, April 23, for its final match of the spring.