HOUGHTON, N.Y. - Playing in their first dual match in more than a full calendar year, the Daemen men's tennis team shook off the rust and knocked off the Houghton Highlanders 8-1 today at the Kerr-Pegula Field House.

With the victory, Daemen is off to a 1-0 start for just the third time in the nine-year history of the program, and for the first time since the 2017-18 campaign. It also marked a successful debut for head coach Jesse Plote who was named the position late last summer. 

Returners Phillip Vance (Orchard, Park, N.Y.) and Patrick O'Brien (Pittsford, N.Y.) and newcomers Ben Davis (Rochester, N.Y.), Sam Greco (Amherst, N.Y.) and Ross Belen (Marlboro, N.Y.) were all winners in both singles and doubles action today to lead the Wildcats. 

The Wildcats last competed 380 days ago when they closed a three-match trip to Florida with a 7-0 loss to Palm Beach Atlantic. The final eight matches of the team's 2019-20 season were wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Houghton, a member of NCAA Division III and the Empire 8 Conference, dropped its 10th straight match in a streak dating back to last season. The Highlanders are 0-3 this season.

The match was played under the Division III scoring format, awarding one point for each singles and doubles match, as opposed to Division II scoring which awards a single point to team that takes at least two of the three doubles matches.



DOUBLES REPORT
The Wildcats opened the match by sweeping through doubles play. Davis, a sophomore transfer from Roberts Wesleyan, and the freshman Greco teamed atop the Daemen lineup to best Houghton's Jake Fisler and Micah Schilke, 8-2. 

Daemen veterans Vance and O'Brien, who played just two doubles matches together last season, won in the No. 2 doubles position. They ousted HC's Ethan Yung and Matt Cicero, also by an 8-2 count.

In the third position, it was the freshman Belen pairing with junior Marcos Lerma Escobar (Zaragoza, Spain) who doubles as a goalkeeper with the Daemen men's soccer team. The duo was 8-2 winners over Micah Christensen and Adam Brown.

SINGLES REPORT
More of the same followed as the match shifted to singles play. Davis set the tone at the top of lineup, defeating Fisler in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Vance (6-4, 6-0 vs. Yung at No. 2) and O'Brien (6-1, 6-0 vs. Schilke at No. 3) followed suit. O'Brien has now won 15 of 25 singles matches in his Daemen career. 

Greco was the lone Daemen player pushed past straight sets, but he emerged with a 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 victory in the fourth position over Cicero. Belen rounded out the Daemen scoring with a 6-2, 6-0 win in the fifth position over Christensen. For Greco and Belen, it marked the first singles victories of their collegiate careers.

Ben McKay helped Houghton avoid the full match sweep as he picked up a 7-6, 6-3 win on the No. 6 court over Lerma Escobar. 

UP NEXT
The Wildcats were slated to compete twice more this weekend, but their two East Coast Conference matches against St. Thomas Aquinas have been postponed due to COVID-19 protocols following a positive test result within the Spartans' Tier 1 personnel. So, Daemen next takes the court Friday, April 2 for a 3 p.m. road match at Edinboro.