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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
ruiz martinez mten action 2017 21
4
Daemen DAEM (5-10)
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Winner Earlham EC-M (10-3)
Daemen DAEM
(5-10)
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Final
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Earlham EC-M
(10-3)
Winner

Match Recap: Men's Tennis | | By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

Men's Tennis Nipped By Earlham In Florida Finale

BOX SCORE

ORLANDO, Fla. - Playing for the final time on a five-match trip to Florida, the Daemen College men's tennis team suffered a 5-4 defeat at the hands of Earlham College - the Wildcats' second straight one-point defeat - in a non-conference dual match played at the United State Tennis Association (USTA) National Campus.

The Wildcats close out their Florida trip with a 1-4 record, and they now sit at 5-10 overall this season. Daemen was coming off a tough 5-4 loss in a true road match yesterday against Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. Four of the Wildcats' 10 losses this season have come by a single point. 

Earlham, a member of NCAA Division III and the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, extended their winning streak to five straight, improving to 10-3 on the season. The Quakers, runners-up in the HCAC last season, snapped Daemen's 10-match winning streak against Division III opponents, and avenged a 5-4 loss to the Wildcats last season. Daemen is 23-11 all-time against Division III opponents.

Daemen opened up a 2-1 lead following doubles play. Vitalii Stadnyk (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) and Vojislav Tatarevic (Belgrade, Serbia) got the Quakers on the board with an 8-2 win in first doubles over Daemen's Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich.) and Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany). But, Daemen responded with wins in the two remaining doubles matchups. Juniors David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia) and Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain) took down EC's Aleksandr Sergeev (Perth, Australia) and Jason Lawson (Kingston, Jamaica) 8-2 in second doubles. Freshmen Tim Georg (Aschaffenburg, Germany) and Jose Williamson III (Minneapolis, Minn.) followed suit with an 8-3 win in third doubles over EC's Brandon Giordanelli (San Antonio, Texas) and Nicola Manni (Vandalia, Ohio).

The Daemen lead to 4-1 with his straight-set victories in second and sixth singles by Ruiz Martinez and Veitengruber, respectively. Ruiz Martinez bounced Sergeev 6-2, 6-0, and Veitengruber ousted Joaquin Lerner (Montevideo, Uruguay) 6-2, 6-1.

But, Earlham rallied with four straight singles wins to complete their massive comeback. Giordanelli started it with a 3-6, 6-1, 1-0 win over DC's Pablo Martinez Hernandez (Huatulco, Mexico) in the fifth singles position. Tatarevic bested Gonzalez Villegas in third singles (6-3, 6-2). Stadnyk's 6-4, 6-2 win in the first position over Georg knotted the match score at 4-4. It came down to the fourth singles position where EC's Manni scored a 6-2, 6-1 win over DC's Wilde.

Despite the loss, a couple of milestones were reached for Daemen players. Veitengruber snapped a tie with former Wildcat John LeMar by playing in his team-record 92nd career doubles match today, and he now has 46 singles wins and 77 combined (singles and doubles) wins in his career, both program bests. Veitengruber sits at 12-5 in singles play this season, reaching 12 wins for the third time in his career. He's just one singles win shy of his own program record for wins in a season (13) which he set during the 2015-16 campaign. Ruiz Martinez sits at 11-6 in singles play after his win today, establishing a new career-high for singles wins and becoming just the third player in team history to reach that total for a single season. Also, Gonzalez Villegas moved into sole possession of fourth place among Daemen's all-time leaders in doubles wins. His 29th career doubles win today snapped a tie with former Wildcat Adam Kerr, and it moves him just one win shy of becoming only the fourth player in team history with 30 career doubles wins. 

After returning from Florida, the Wildcats will hed to the New York City area next weekend as they kickoff East Coast Conference play by facing Queens College (Friday, Mar. 23) and St. Thomas Aquinas College (Saturday, Mar. 24). 



 
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