Men's Tennis Hosts Queens For Matches Saturday & Sunday

4/9/2021 12:00:00 PM

MATCH #2
DAEMEN WILDCATS (1-0, 0-0 ECC) vs. QUEENS KNIGHTS (1-2, 0-0 ECC)
SATURDAY, APRIL 10
WILLIAMSVILLE SOUTH HS COURTS (WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y.) - 4 P.M.
LIMITED SPECTATORS PERMITTED DUE TO COVID-19 - SEE DAEMEN SPECTATOR POLICY

MATCH #3
DAEMEN WILDCATS vs. QUEENS KNIGHTS
SUNDAY, APRIL 11
MILLER TENNIS CENTER (WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y.) - 3 P.M.
LIMITED SPECTATORS PERMITTED DUE TO COVID-19 - SEE DAEMEN SPECTATOR POLICY

Here's three things to know about upcoming matches for the Daemen men's tennis team...

1. The Daemen men's tennis team opens East Coast Conference play with a pair of matches against preseason favorite Queens. It will mark Daemen's first conference action in 728 days. The team's full ECC slate was cancelled last spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This time around, the Wildcats are playing a six-match ECC schedule. Daemen, Queens and St. Thomas Aquinas are the lone ECC teams competing this season.

2. Daemen has been idle since scoring an 8-1 victory in their season opener March 26 at Division III Houghton. The match ended a 380-day gap between competitions for the Wildcats. Returning players Phillip Vance and Patrick O'Brien and newcomers Ben Davis, Sam Greco and Ross Belen all earned victories in both singles and doubles play. Davis, who made his Daemen debut after transferring from Roberts Wesleyan, was named the ECC Player of the Week after winning at No. 1 singles (6-3, 6-2) and No. 1 doubles (8-2, with Greco). He's just the second Daemen player to earn the weekly accolade since the Wildcats joined the ECC in 2013. It marked a successful debut for head coach Jesse Plote who was named to the position late last summer following head coaching stints at Nebraska-Kearney and Bradley. It also marked Daemen's first win in a season opener since the 2017-18 season. The Wildcats have opened with multiple victories only once in the nine-year history of the program (2014-15 started 4-0).

3. Queens returns 10 players from their 2019-20 team that went 6-1 overall prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. The Knights have won the last three ECC championships and advanced to the NCAA tournament in 18 consecutive seasons before last year's competition was cancelled. Queens is led by head coach Somadi Druker. Now in her seventh season at the helm, Druker has led the Knights to an average of 13.7 wins per season while also posting a 23-3 mark in conference play. Among the team's returners are German native Tim Ostheimer - the No. 48 ranked singles player in the Oracle/ITA Division II rankings - and Egyptian native Kareem Rashad - the ECC Preseason Player of the Year.

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