Geoff Schneider

Men's Tennis Set To Face Top-Seeded Queens In ECC Tournament Semifinals

4/28/2022 12:00:00 PM

AMHERST, N.Y. – The stakes are even higher down in The Big Apple.

For a second consecutive year, fourth-seeded Daemen University returns to the East Coast Conference tournament for men's tennis and will face the top-seeded Queens Knights in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday at the Queens College Tennis Center. The match will be live streamed on the ECC Network. The broadcast will focus primarily on the No. 1 singles and doubles courts, but will intermittently switch to coverage of other courts as well. All four ECC teams that competed this season will compete in the conference tournament. The winner of Daemen – Queens will then face No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas or No. 3 District Columbia in the championship match on Saturday, April 30 at 12 p.m.

The Wildcats (3-16, 0-6 ECC) are coming off a 7-0 loss to the Knights this past Saturday (April 23.) This marked Daemen's final regular season match of the 2021-22 season. Daemen nearly got on the board with a point on the first singles court when junior Luis de Vuyst (Atwerp, Belgium) shook off a slow start and forced the match to a third set tiebreak. Queens' Kareem Rashad managed to outlast the Daemen junior, completing the sweep for the Knights.

Juniors Zachary Laplante (Ottawa, Ont.) and Phillip Vance (Orchard Park, N.Y.) enter Friday leading the Wildcats with six doubles wins each this season - all of which have come while paired together. Laplante has made an immediate impact in his first season with the program after transferring from Salem University (W.Va.). He leads the team with 12 combined singles and doubles victories. Fellow newcomer de Vuyst has totaled 11, as has Vance who surpassed the 20-win mark for his career earlier this season.

Queens (15-7, 6-0 ECC) looks to return to Saturday's championship match and hoist the conference title for a fifth consecutive year. Nine players return from their 2020-21 team that went 6-0 through ECC play. Head coach Somadi Druker has presided over the program since 2015 and has been the ECC Coach of the Year five times. The Knights were picked first in the ECC preseason coaches' poll released in January and have posted wins over Division I foes Fairleigh Dickinson (5-2) and Rider (7-0) earlier this season. The Knights are ranked 34th in the latest ITA Division II national poll (April 21.)

Friday marks the 12th all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Knights and the third meeting this spring alone. Queens is 11-0 in the series, which began on April 11, 2014.

St. Thomas Aquinas (15-7, 4-2 ECC) returns just two players from their 2020-21 team that finished 6-4 overall and defeated Daemen in the Play-In Round on April 30 en route to an appearance in the championship match before falling to Queens the next day. The Spartans won their last three ECC matches this regular season, including a pair of mid-week bouts with Daemen on April 13-14. The Spartans are led by long-time head coach Matthew Capell.

District Columbia (5-11, 2-4 ECC) did not compete last spring but do have three players remaining from their 2019-20 team that went 4-7 before the majority of their spring season was canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Firebirds are led by sixth-year head coach T. Richard "Dickie" Mahaffey III. With the UDC men's tennis team, Mahaffey is a two-time ECC Coach of the Year in 2011 and 2012. During the spring slate that began February 18, the Firebirds have won three total matches – twice against Daemen and a Senior Day win versus Virginia State on April 16.

MEN'S PROJECTED LINEUP
#1 Doubles: Luis de Vuyst / Sam Greco
#2 Doubles: Phillip Vance / Zachary Laplante
#3 Doubles: Ross Belen / Marcos Lerma Escobar

#1 Singles: Luis de Vuyst
#2 Singles: Zachary Laplante
#3 Singles: Phillip Vance
#4 Singles: Sam Greco
#5 Singles: Ross Belen
#6 Singles: Marcos Lerma Escobar

Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen University tennis program on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @DaemenTennis.

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