Men's Tennis 7/14/2017 12:00:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Fall Schedule Set For Men's Tennis Team

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's tennis team will open the 2017-18 season by participating in a pair of tournaments in mid-September, head coach Stephen Beatty announced today as the Wildcats' fall schedule was revealed. In addition to tournament action, Beatty's squad will play four dual matches, all at home, this fall in preparation for the championship segment of their 2017-18 campaign which comes during the spring semester.

"I am very excited about the upcoming season," said Beatty who has been with the program in one capacity or another since its inception, including the last four seasons as head coach. "I am looking forward to hosting our fall tournament for the third-straight year. This gives us the ability to get everyone some matches early in the season and hopefully build some momentum."

The season officially gets underway with the Wildcats hosting the Daemen Invitational Tournament at the Ellicott Tennis Courts from Friday, September 15 through Sunday, September 17. The weekend-long event will feature seven singles draws and four doubles draws as fellow Division II affiliates Roberts Wesleyan College, Le Moyne College and Millersville University are scheduled to partake along with Division I Niagara University and Colgate University, and Division III Rochester Institute of Technology and Allegheny College.

Daemen returns to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Regional Tournament for the first time since 2015. This year's tournament, which runs from Friday, September 22 through Monday, September 25, brings together a majority of teams from the NCAA Division II East Region for an event which will be held at the prestigious United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., home of the U.S. Open.

"It will be a great honor for our student-athletes to play at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center," said Beatty. "The chance to compete where the top professionals in the world do is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

Dual match play kicks off on Wednesday, September 27 with Rochester Institute of Technology returning to the Ellicott Tennis Courts. Beatty's team will be looking for redemption after a 6-2 loss to RIT during the 2014-15 season, the only prior meeting between the two teams in dual match action.

On Saturday, September 30, Walsh University of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference visits the Ellicott Tennis courts. The Wildcats and Cavaliers met for the first time last season in North Canton, Ohio with the latter scoring an 8-1 win. Walsh opened the 2016-17 season with 10 wins in their first 16 dual matches before faltering down the stretch to finish at 11-12 overall.

The following day, Daemen opens October by hosting Oswego State. The Wildcats own a 2-1 lead in the all-time series with the Lakers who compete in Division III and the State University of New York Athletic Conference. The teams have not met since a 6-3 Daemen win in their 2014-15 season opener. The Lakers are coming off a 6-5 campaign in 2016-17, their fourth-straight season with a winning record.

The Wildcats' brief fall schedule concludes later that same week when Houghton College visits on Thursday, October 5. It'll mark the fifth-straight season that the Wildcats and Highlanders have met with Daemen owning a 4-0 lead in the all-time series. Houghton, a Division III affiliate, went an impressive 12-6 last season, including a 5-3 mark in the Empire 8 Conference.

Daemen's 2017-18 season continues during the spring semester. Their remaining schedule, which includes five East Coast Conference matches, will be announced at a later time.

"The dual matches we have this fall will give us a good opportunity to see how our guys have improved as individuals, while also helping us come together as a team," said Beatty. "We can try some new things with the lineup during these matches so we can see what the best fit is for everyone going into the spring semester."

Daemen went 6-18 overall and 0-5 in ECC play last season. Several of the team's top players are returning, headlined by junior Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain/American International College) who garnered second-team All-ECC honors last season to become the first all-league player in team history. Sophomore Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany/Julius-Motteler), who tied with Ruiz Martinez for the team lead in singles wins with 10 last season, also returns, as does the latter's doubles partner, junior David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira). Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford), the team's lone senior, enters his final season already ranking first in team history in singles wins with 34.

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

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Players Mentioned

David Gonzalez Villegas: 5' 6"; Junior

Ricardo Ruiz Martinez: 5' 8"; Junior

Mark Veitengruber: 6' 0"; Senior

Fabian Wilde: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

David Gonzalez Villegas
: 5' 6"; Junior

Ricardo Ruiz Martinez
: 5' 8"; Junior

Mark Veitengruber
: 6' 0"; Senior

Fabian Wilde
: 5' 8"; Sophomore