Men's Tennis 3/24/2017 11:50:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. For Communications

Wildcats Fall By 1 In League Opener

Veitengruber Becomes Team's All-Time Leader In Singles Wins

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - Playing in their first East Coast Conference match of the season, the Daemen College men's tennis team fell 5-4 to the University of the District of Columbia tonight at Miller Tennis Center. Despite the loss, it was a historic evening for junior Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) who became Daemen's all-time leader in career singles victories.

The loss drops Daemen to 5-14 on the season (0-1 in ECC play). It's the second-straight one-point loss for the Wildcats who dropped another 5-4 decision to Bellarmine University in their previous outing on Mar. 16. Five of Daemen's losses have come by three points or less this season.

UDC, which was picked third in the ECC preseason poll, evened its overall record at 2-2 while jumping out to a 1-0 start in league play. Tonight's match was the tightest of four all-time meetings between the Wildcats and Firebirds; UDC scored shutout wins in each of the last two meetings coming into tonight.

The Firebirds opened the match by taking a 2-1 lead following doubles action. UDC gutted out wins of 9-7 and 9-8 on the first and third doubles courts, respectively. Veitengruber and freshman Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany/Julius-Motteler) came up just short at the top of the doubles lineup against UDC's Rok Bozic (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Diego Pinto (Santa Cruz, Bolivia). The same could be said for the Daemen duo of red-shirt sophomore Andrew LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) and Adam Kerr (Penfield, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) in the third position against UDC's Josip Marinic (Ogulin, Croatia) and Marco Feligioni (Citta di Castello, Italy).

Daemen avoided the doubles sweep and picked up a point on the second doubles court from David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira) and Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain/American International College). They ousted Alexis Baguelin (Le Houlme, France) and Ander Murillo (Mondragon, Spain) 8-3.

In singles play, Daemen battled and picked up three points by winning a trio of three-set affairs. Veitengruber survived on the second singles court against Pinto despite dropping the first set (5-7, 6-4, 6-4). The win gave him 33 singles wins in his career, breaking the program record of 32 set by Gregory Lowe from 2012-16. It's the second of Lowe's program records to fall this season as John LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) became the program's all-time leader in doubles wins (31) during a 9-0 defeat of Millersville University earlier this month. Veitengruber's eight singles wins this season leads the team as well.

Ruiz Martinez and sophomore Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) picked up the additional singles wins for Daemen. Ruiz Martinez took out Murillo 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 on the fourth singles court, while Milner won 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 over Feligioni in fifth singles.

But, UDC still managed to pick up the requisite three points in singles play to earn the dual match victory. Bozic, a second-team All-ECC selection last season, downed Gonzalez Villegas in straight sets (7-5, 6-4) at the top of the lineup. Baguelin and Marinic earned straight-set wins as well to secure the Firebirds' first league win of the season.

Daemen returns to ECC play on Saturday, April 1 when visiting N.Y. Institute of Technology.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Gregory Lowe: 5' 9"; Senior

David Gonzalez Villegas: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Adam Kerr: 5' 11"; Senior

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

Ricardo Ruiz Martinez: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Gregory Lowe
: 5' 9"; Senior

David Gonzalez Villegas
: 5' 6"; Sophomore

Adam Kerr
: 5' 11"; Senior

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

Ricardo Ruiz Martinez
: 5' 8"; Sophomore