Head coach Stephen Beatty is in his fourth season at the helm of the Daemen men's tennis team

Men's Tennis 1/30/2017 4:19:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Men's Tennis Picked Sixth In ECC Preseason Poll

2017 ECC MEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL
Rank	School	Pts.	2015-16 Record
1	NYIT (5)	35	21-4, 5-0 ECC
2	Queens (1)	31	14-8, 4-1 ECC
3	District of Columbia	22	5-9, 3-2 ECC
4	Roberts Wesleyan	16	10-10, 2-3 ECC
5	St. Thomas Aquinas	14	11-12, 1-4 ECC
6	DAEMEN	8	5-17, 0-5 ECC
( ) - first place votes

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's tennis team has been picked to finish sixth in the East Coast Conference standings during the upcoming season after a vote of the league's six head coaches was compiled into the ECC preseason poll which was released today from conference headquarters in Central Islip, N.Y.

Daemen received eight points in the poll, falling just behind fifth-place St. Thomas Aquinas (14 points) and fourth-place Roberts Wesleyan College (16 points). The Wildcats went 1-4 in their short fall season, and are coming off an 5-17 campaign in 2015-16. Coach Stephen Beatty's squad picked up three wins in their final five matches last season including the program's first-ever defeat of a Division I opponent (6-1 win over Coppin State University).

Atop the poll sits New York Institute of Technology as the near unanimous pick to win the league. The Bears, who are looking for their fifth straight league title, picked up five of the six first-place votes and garnered 35 points in the poll. NYIT has won 27 consecutive ECC matches including conference tournament action, and the Bears are coming off a 21-4 campaign last season which saw them advance to the quarterfinal round of NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time in program history. The Bears also open the spring season ranked No. 30 in the Oracle/Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Rankings.

Queens College, which has advanced to the ECC Tournament finals in each of the last three seasons, picked up the one remaining first-place vote and totaled 31 points to sit in second place. University of the District of Columbia (22 points), which is the last ECC team to defeat NYIT (5-4 on April 7, 2013), rounds out the poll's top three.

In addition to releasing the preseason poll, the conference office also announced that NYIT's Matej Selecky (Bratislava, Slovakia) has been tabbed the ECC Preseason Player of the Year.

Beatty's squad returns several experienced players including senior John LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda), junior Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford), and sophomores Andrew LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda), Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) and David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira). Both Veitengruber and the elder LeMar open the spring season within reach of becoming Daemen's all-time leader in singles victories; former Wildcat Gregory Lowe holds the mark at 32 wins while Veitengruber has totaled 27 and LeMar owns 24.

Daemen opens the spring portion of its 2016-17 season with non-league matches against West Virginia Wesleyan College (Feb. 3) and Mercyhurst University (Feb. 5) this weekend. ECC play gets underway on March 24 when UDC visits Daemen.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen men's tennis team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenTennis on Twitter.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Gregory Lowe: 5' 9"; Senior

David Gonzalez Villegas: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Andrew LeMar: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

John LeMar: 5' 10"; Senior

Justin Milner: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Mark Veitengruber: 6' 0"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Gregory Lowe
: 5' 9"; Senior

David Gonzalez Villegas
: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Andrew LeMar
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

John LeMar
: 5' 10"; Senior

Justin Milner
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Mark Veitengruber
: 6' 0"; Junior