Ruiz Martinez Named ECC Player of the Week

4/8/2019 5:50:00 PM

By: By Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications

AMHERST, N.Y. - Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain) of Daemen College has been named the East Coast Conference Men's Tennis Player of the Week for April 1-7. The announcement of ECC weekly awards was made via the league's weekly sport report which was released this afternoon from conference headquarters in West Babylon, N.Y.

Ruiz Martinez, now in his senior season, becomes the first Daemen player to ever earn ECC Player of the Week honors. It comes after he posted a perfect 4-0 record in singles and doubles play combined, while helping Daemen to wins over Coppin State University (7-0) and University of the District of Columbia (6-1). Saturday's defeat of CSU marked Daemen's second against an NCAA Division I opponent since the program's inception in 2012; both signature wins have come over Coppin State. Sunday's win was Daemen's first-ever against a UDC team that has advance to conference tournament play in nine successive seasons. Ruiz Martinez has led Daemen to wins in four of their last five matches as they've improved to 5-11 overall and 1-1 in ECC play this season.

Ruiz Martinez has won four of his last five matches in both singles and doubles play. Most recently, he earned singles wins over Coppin State's Jorge Rodriguez Rey (6-3, 3-6, 10-2) and UDC's Kostiantyn Kalchev (6-4, 6-0). Both of those victories came in the No. 1 position in Daemen's singles lineup. In doubles play, he teamed with classmate David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia) on wins over CSU's Prabh Bal and Henrique Sada (6-4) and UDC's Maksim Bahdanovich and Jake Bedforth (6-2).

The recent wins have vaulted Ruiz Martinez up several of Daemen's career wins lists. With 62 combined singles/doubles wins, Ruiz Martinez is tied for second in team history, along with teammate Gonzalez Villegas and 2016 graduate Gregory Lowe. Ruiz Martinez is one of just five players in team history with more than 60 combined singles/doubles wins. He also moved into sole possession of second place among Daemen's all-time leaders in singles victories. His singles win Sunday vs. UDC was the 33rd of his career, breaking a tie with 2017 graduate John LeMar. Ruiz Martinez also ranks fifth in team history for career doubles wins (29), standing one shy of becoming just the fifth player in team history to reach 30.

Ruiz Martinez is the only player in team history to garner All-ECC accolades having been a second-team selection in each of the last two seasons. His selection last season came after he established new team records for singles wins (17) and singles winning percentage (.654) in a season.

The Daemen senior shares the team lead in both singles (6) and doubles (9) wins this season.

The Wildcats return to action Tuesday with an important ECC contest against Roberts Wesleyan College at the Midtown Athletic Club in Rochester.

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