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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
mten seniors 2019
5
Winner St. Thomas Aquinas STACM (10-5, 4-1 ECC)
2
Daemen DAEM (5-14, 1-4 ECC)
Winner
St. Thomas Aquinas STACM
(10-5, 4-1 ECC)
5
Final
2
Daemen DAEM
(5-14, 1-4 ECC)

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

Men's Tennis Tripped Up On Senior Day

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's tennis team battled valiantly but came up short in a 5-2 loss tonight to Saint Thomas Aquinas College at Miller Tennis Center. After Daemen won two of the three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead, the visiting Spartans responded by taking five of the six singles contests, including a trio that took three sets to decide.

With the win, STAC clinched the No. 2 seed in the upcoming ECC Championship tournament, improving to 10-5 overall and 4-1 in league play. The Spartans were the 11th regionally-ranked team on Daemen's schedule this season, coming in at No. 9 in the Oracle/ITA East Region poll.

Daemen, which entered the week as winners in four their previous five matches, dropped their third straight contest, falling to 5-13 overall and 1-4 in league play. The Wildcats were eliminated from postseason contention following a 7-0 loss to Queens College last evening.

The match had a promising start for Wildcat fans as the hosts earned doubles wins by James Schaab-Rozbicki (Amherst, N.Y.) and Patrick O'Brien (Pittsford, N.Y.) in the No. 3 position, and Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany) and Jose Williamson III (Minneapolis, Minn.) in the No. 1 position. The win by Schaab-Rozbicki and O'Brien, a 6-4 final, helped the Wildcats offset STAC's initial win in the No. 2 position by Paul Voigt and Enej Hasicevic (6-2).

That set the stage for some dramatics by Daemen's top pair as Wilde and Williamson III rallied for a 7-6 win. It came almost exactly 24 hours after the pair dropped a 7-6 decision in the loss to Queens. It not only delivered the match's doubles point to the Wildcats, but it also marked the 60th win (combined singles/doubles) in Wilde's career, making him just the sixth player in team history to reach that total.

As things shifted to singles play, STAC slowly gained control of the match. Luke Taplin's 6-4, 7-5 win in the No. 6 position evened the match, and STAC opened up a 3-1 lead following wins by Voigt (3-6, 6-3, 6-4) and Tim Fleerkamp (7-6, 6-2) in the third and second singles positions, respectively.

Daemen came back with O'Brien's three-set victory (6-4, 6-7, 6-3) in the No.4 position over Gijs Anton Offringa. O'Brien, who missed the first nine matches of the spring season with an injury, has now won six of his eight singles matches since returning to the lineup. The freshman leads the team with eight singles wins this season.

That's as close as Daemen would get, however, as STAC closed things out with three-set wins by Marcel Volz (6-1, 4-6, 7-6) and Hasicevic (5-7, 6-3, 6-3). 

Tonight's match marked the final home contest in the careers of Daemen seniors Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain), David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia) and Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y.). The trio was recognized during a brief ceremony between singles and doubles play as head coach Kerry McDermott thanked them all for their contributions to the program. All three rank among the program's top 10 leaders in combined singles/doubles wins.

Daemen returns to action Monday, April 15 with a non-league road match at the State University of New York at Oswego. 

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