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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
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gonzalez villegas mten @ houghton
2
Daemen DAEM (2-11, 0-1 ECC)
5
Winner NYIT NYITM (7-4, 2-0 ECC)
Daemen DAEM
(2-11, 0-1 ECC)
2
Final
5
NYIT NYITM
(7-4, 2-0 ECC)
Winner

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

Wildcats Drop ECC Opener To Perennial Power NYIT

BROOKVILLE, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's tennis team put up a solid battle but ultimately fell 5-2 to N.Y. Institute of Technology today. The match marked the East Coast Conference season opener for Daemen which dropped to 2-11 this season. NYIT, the defending ECC regular-season champs who have made seven consecutive NCAA tournament berths, won their fourth consecutive match and improved to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in league play.

NYIT, which is ranked third in the Oracle/ITA East Region poll, took a 1-0 lead after taking two of the three doubles contests at the outset of the match. 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. 

Yago Granda and Nicolas Castaldo got things started with a 6-2 win in the second doubles position over Daemen seniors Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain) and David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia). The Bears secured the doubles point when Kevin Huynh and Sergio Fernandez bounced DC's Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Patrick O'Brien (Pittsford, N.Y.) 6-3 in the third doubles position. 

Daemen avoided the doubles sweep with a hard-fought 7-6 win by Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany) and Jose Williamson III (Minneapolis, Minn.) in the first doubles position. The Daemen duo improved to 6-8 on the season as they took down the Bears' top pair of Francisco Caldas and Diego Espiniella. 

The NYIT lead increased to 3-0 as Huynh and Raul Guillen scored straight-set wins in the fifth and sixth singles positions, respectively.

Daemen got on the board when O'Brien ousted NYIT senior Maxton Cook 6-2, 6-3 in the fourth position. It's the second straight singles win for the Daemen freshman who just returned to the lineup last week vs. Millersville University after being sidelined with an injury through the early part of the spring season. O'Brien is 4-2 in singles play this season. 

The Bears secured the overall dual match win when Fernandez won his No. 3 singles match with Wilde, 6-2, 6-2.

Although the outcome was decided, the match continued with two strong battles in the first two singles positions. Caldas, the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, outlasted Ruiz Martinez in three sets. The Daemen senior took the opening set (7-5), but Caldas responded by taking the next two 6-2 and 11-9. Gonzalez Villegas provided Daemen's final point, winning his No. 2 singles meeting with Castaldo in a match that also took three sets to decide (6-4, 5-7, 10-8). It marked the second straight singles win for Gonzalez Villegas, and the 21st of his career. 

NYIT is the ninth regionally-ranked opponent Daemen has faced this season, and the Bears were predicted to have another good season as they were tied for first in the ECC preseason poll released in late January.

Daemen will remain in the Northeast megalopolis for a non-conference match on Sunday vs. University of the Sciences. The match is slated for an 11 a.m. start in Philadelphia at the Hamlin Center on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. 

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