Men's Tennis Opens Season With Loss At Fairmont State

FAIRMONT, W. Va. - The Daemen College men's tennis team opened their 2016-17 season with an 9-0 non-conference loss at Fairmont State University this afternoon at the FSU Tennis Courts.

The host Falcons, who are coming off their most successful season in more than a decade, improved to 2-1 with the win.

FSU opened things up by sweeping through doubles play. Returner Mitch Hornak, a first-team all-league pick in the Mountain East Conference last season, teamed with newcomer Joao Lucas Alves in the top spot to take down Daemen's Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) and Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany/Julius-Motteler), 8-3. Likewise, newcomers Tom Liddy and Guilherme Pachane were 8-4 winners over the Wildcats' Andrew LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) and Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) in second doubles. Daemen's best chance to avoid the sweep came in third doubles, but the pairing of David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira) and John LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) were bested, 9-7, by FSU's Zach Hatfield and Dillon Early.

In singles play, the hosts skated through relatively unscathed. Gonzalez Villegas put up a tough fight in first singles, but fell 6-4, 7-5 to Alves. Like Alves, Hornak, Liddy, Pachane and Early all picked up their second points of the match for the Falcons, while Alec Moran picked up the final point in sixth singles.

Wilde was the lone freshman to crack the Daemen lineup in both singles and doubles play as he made his collegiate debut amongst a group of returners for the Wildcats. He fell in third singles to Liddy, 6-4, 6-1.

Daemen enters tournament play in their next outing - the Bloomsburg Invitational - on September 24-25, before returning to dual match play by hosting Southern New Hampshire University in their home opener on September 30.

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

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Players Mentioned

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

Fabian Wilde: 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

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

Fabian Wilde
: 5' 8"; Freshman