Men's Tennis | 2/5/2025 1:42:00 PM
AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen University men's tennis team kicked off their 2025 spring season on Sunday. Before the Wildcats opened up their 14-match spring slate, junior
Alex Lumanog (Albuquerque, N.M.) and senior
Jayven Williamson (Minneapolis, Minn.) spoke about the team, their expectations and their goals for the season.
"Definitely a lot of returners coming back and one freshman, so we're all just excited to get out there, put the work in and just get after it this year," Lumanog said.
"Our close knit chemistry, we all know each other, we've been with each other for a few years so bringing that team aspect back to our team, before it was separate but we're all close knit now, that's the best part of it," Williamson said.
Daemen returned six players from the 2023-24 squad and added freshman
Vondin Henderson (Tonawanda, N.Y.) to the mix. With a key group of returners moving up in the lineup this spring after an injury sidelined sophomore
Lasse Mergens (Bochum, Germany) for the spring season, the Wildcats are relying on the tightness of the group to translate to success on the courts.
"It's great. I think now we have a real sense of a team and a great community, we all live with each other, we like each other, so it's going pretty good," Lumanog said.
"It's key, it's kind of like that experience part, at least in college sports, regardless of the sport, it's the experience of being in that environment, playing in these types of situations, knowing what you're playing for, I think that helps having that crowd that's been there a few times, that will benefit us definitely," Williamson said.
The Wildcats face tough competition every season, including taking on nationally-ranked teams in St. Thomas Aquinas College and Queens College throughout East Coast Conference play each season, but they welcome the challenge knowing that pressure makes diamonds.
"Definitely just getting out there, competing, doing our best at all times. We have our conference, a lot of nationally ranked teams, so we're going into it like we have no pressure on us, nothing to lose for us, so we're going to go out there, try our hardest and that's all we can ask for," Lumanog said.
"Our fall was pretty good, we did alright, we know what we could've done better in some parts but we played as a team and again we played teams that are helping us to our goal so regardless, we take every game as a lesson and we know what we can take from it so it's going to help us in the spring for sure," Williamson said.
Daemen went 2-5 in the spring season but has their sights set on a successful spring including winning in the postseason.
"We want to be a top three team and make conference, go onto regionals and eventually the NCAA Tournament but in the end it's just focus on one match at a time and one practice at a time," Lumanog said.
"Our big goal is to push for that third, second place spot for conference, we really want to beat UDC but again we play a lot of top teams that's going to help us prepare for that. It's been our goal for the past three years, but the past two years specifically we want to key in on it," Williamson said.
The Wildcats travel to Erie, Pa. on Monday (Feb. 10) for an 11:45 AM match up against Division I opponent Mercyhurst 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.
Follow the Daemen men's tennis program on Twitter and Facebook at @DaemenTennis
