MORGANTOWN, W. Va. - The Daemen College men's tennis team picked up its first win of the 2018-19 season following a 5-2 victory over Fairmont State University here tonight in a non-conference matchup. Daemen improved to 1-6 on the year. Fairmont, which qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament last spring, dropped to 0-2.
It also marked the first win for Kerry McDermott as head coach of the Daemen men's tennis team. McDermott, who also heads up the women's tennis program at Daemen, was named head coach this past summer.
The Wildcats took a 1-0 lead in the match after winning two of the three doubles matches. In a new scoring format for NCAA Division II matches this season, the outcome of doubles matches will award a single point to the team winning at least two of the three matchups, as opposed to awarding points for each individual doubles victory.
Daemen's top doubles team of sophomore Jose Williamson III (Minneapolis, Minn.) and junior Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany) suffered a 6-3 loss to juniors Joao Lucas Alves and Guilherme Pachane. The Wildcats earned the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. Seniors Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain) and David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Columbia) posted a 6-4 win at No. 2 doubles over sophomore Joao Martins and junior Tom Liddy, while senior Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y.) and junior James Schaab-Rozbicki (Amherst, N.Y.). added a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles over senior Ryan Leo and freshman Jonathon Sanchez.
Daemen took four of the six singles matches to secure the win. The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead after Wilde posted a 6-2, 6-2 win over Pachane at No. 2 singles, before the Falcons evened the matched at 2-2 following straight-set wins by Liddy and Leo at No. 4 and No. 5 singles. Daemen regained a 3-2 lead after Ruiz Martinez outlasted Alves 7-5, 7-6 (6) at No. 1 singles, and the Wildcats clinched the win after Gonzalez Villegas out-battled Martins at No. 3 singles by a score of 6-0, 6-7 (1), 6-3. Milner earned Daemen's final point with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sanchez at No. 6 singles.
Daemen remains in the The Mountain State and will play at Salem University tomorrow (Mar. 2).
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