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Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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veitengruber mten vs rwc 4
4
Daemen DAEM (7-17)
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Winner Jefferson JEFFMTEN (6-9)
Daemen DAEM
(7-17)
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Final
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Jefferson JEFFMTEN
(6-9)
Winner

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

Men's Tennis Falls By Slimmest Of Margins In Season Finale

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Playing for the final time this season, the Daemen College men's tennis team suffered a 5-4 loss in non-conference action against Jefferson University today at the Legacy Tennis Center. The loss - Daemen's fifth by just a single point this season - gives the Wildcats a 7-17 record to end the 2017-18 season. Just yesterday, the Wildcats had matched the program record for wins in a season with an 8-1 road victory over Millersville University. Jefferson, a member of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference, improved to 6-9 with the win.

Daemen jumped on the board early as the Wildcats' top pair of sophomore Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany) and freshman Jose Williamson III (Minneapolis, Minn.) cruised past JU's Oskar Haedicke (Iserlohn, Germany) and Luis Molina Megias (Gran Canaria, Spain) 8-3. For Williamson, it was his 13th doubles win of the season which establishes a new team record.

The Rams evened up the match with an 8-5 win in the third doubles slot; James Pollard (Mechanicsville, Va.) and Jacobo Atri (Mexico City, Mexico) got the better of Daemen's Pablo Martinez (Huatulco, Mexico) and Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich.). Jefferson then took a 2-1 lead as Liviu Trifoi (Wyomissing, Pa.) and Joao Pedro Molina Marcal outlasted DC juniors Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain) and David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia) 9-8 in the second doubles position. The Jefferson duo won a 7-3 tie-break to take the match.

Ruiz Martinez bounced back with a 7-5, 6-2 win in the second singles position over Trifoi, pulling the Wildcats back even in the match at 2-2. Already the team record holder for singles wins in a season, Ruiz Martinez finished the season with a 17-9 record, becoming the first player in team history to win over 60 percent of his singles matches. 

Daemen then took the lead when freshman Tim Georg (Aschaffenburg, Germany) earned his 10th singles win of the season, a 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 victory over Atri in the third singles position. 

In the first singles position, Haedicke grinded out a three-set victory over Gonzalez Villegas (6-3, 4-6, 1-0), winning a third-set tie-break 13-11 to take the match.

The No. 4 singles match also took a 13-11 third-set tie-break to decide as Molina Marcal outlasted Wilde 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 to put the Rams back ahead in the match (4-3).

Daemen pulled even one more time when Veitengruber closed out his No. 5 singles match vs. Joseph Sison (Yardley, Pa.) in straight sets (6-2, 6-3). Not only did it even the score, but the win was good for Veitengruber's 15th of the season, second all-time for the Wildcats behind Ruiz Martinez. At 15-10 this season, Veitengruber became the second Daemen player to register a winning percentage of at least .600 for a season. 

The match came down to the No. 6 singles meeting between Williamson III and Pollard. It took three sets to decide - the fourth singles match of the day to do so - and when the dust settled it was Pollard that emerged victorious, 6-2, 3-6, 1-0. The Jefferson senior took the third set tie-break 11-9 to deliver his team's sixth win of the season.

Today's match marked the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, and with it the conclusion of Veitengruber's career. The team's lone senior will graduate as the Wildcats' all-time leader in combined singles/doubles wins (82), singles wins (49), singles matches (103), singles winning percentage (.476), doubles wins (33 - tied with John LeMar), and doubles matches (101).

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

 
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