Geoff M Schneider

Men's Tennis Heads To Pennsylvania For Two Matches

9/22/2023 6:24:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Tom McDermott, Director of Athletics Communications | tmcdermo@daemen.edu

AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen men's tennis team will play two non-league matches in Pennsylvania this weekend. The Wildcats will face Millersville on Sunday (sept. 24) and then take on Kutztown on Monday. (Sept. 25).

THE WILDCATS
Daemen kicked off the 2023-24 season last weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Region Championships in Flushing, N.Y. and played their first dual match of the year this past Wednesday, suffering a 5-4 loss at RIT. Head coach Richard Greco returns five players from last year's team and welcomes two newcomers to the 2023-24 roster. Sophomore Alex Lumanog (Albuquerque, N.M.) played No. 1 singles as a freshman last year. Graduate student Zachary Laplante (Ottawa, Ontario) posted a team-high 11 singles wins last year (11-8), while sophomore Rohan Chitanand (Den Haag, Nethewrlands) and fifth-year senior Luis de Vuyst (Antwerp, Belgium) both finished with five singles wins. Newcomers Juan Alvarez (Puebla, Mexico) and Lasse Mergens (Bochum, Germany) are both expected to make immediate contributions. Alvarez played the last two seasons at Emory & Henry College. Mergens, a freshman, trained with TC Bochum in Germany prior to enrolling at Daemen.

THE MARAUDERS
Millersville is a NCAA Division II member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). Sunday's match will be the first dual match of the year for the Marauders. Millersville went 7-9 overall (4-2 in the PSAC) last year and lost to Mercyhurst in the semifinals of the PSAC Tournament. Seniors Dylan Tull and Zach Pernia and junior Jasper de Koning all return after posting double-digit singles wins last year. Tull was a first-team All-PSAC selection after posting a 12-7 singles record, while Pernia earned second-team All-PSAC after going 10-8. Tull and Pernia also went undefeated (8-0) as a doubles team and were selected first-team All-PSAC.

SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's match will mark the seventh all-time meeting between the two schools. Daemen prevailed in the first three matches, while Millersvile has won the last three--including a 7-0 win the last time the teams met during the 2020-21 season.

THE GOLDEN BEARS
Kutztown is a NCAA Division II member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). The Golden Bears (0-1, 0-0 PSAC) opened the year with a 4-3 loss to Chestnut Hill back on Sept. 9. Kutztown went 7-10 overall and 2-4 in the PSAC last year. Their top two players from last year return. Senior Gonzalo Barcelo is back after going 7-8 at No. 1 singles, while sophomore Joaquin Perez returns after going 7-10 at No. 2 singles as a rookie.

SERIES HISTORY
Monday's match will mark just the second all-time meeting between the two schools. Daemen prevailed in the first-ever meeting last season, posting a 7-0 win at Kutztown.

UP NEXT
Daemen is idle until Thursday (Sept. 28) when it travels to Rochester, N.Y. to play Nazareth University.

Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 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.

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