Jayven Williamson swings at a ball against Houghton

Katelyn Bechtel

Men's Tennis Opens ECC Play with Pair of Home Matches Against STAC

3/21/2025 8:30:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Director of Athletics Communications | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

CONFERENCE PLAY
The Daemen University men's tennis team opens up East Coast Conference play this weekend with a pair of home matches against the St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans with both matches being played the at Miller Tennis Center in Williamsville, N.Y. The Wildcats and Spartans will play on Saturday, March 22 at 6:30 PM and again on Sunday, March 23 at 4:30 PM. Daemen comes in with a 2-4 record in the spring season while STAC is 6-3 in the spring. Both teams will begin their ECC schedules this weekend.

WINNING WEEK
The Wildcats picked up their first two wins of the spring last week, earning their first victory in a 7-0 sweep over Houghton on Tuesday and capping off the week with a 6-1 win at St. John Fisher. The Wildcats swept all match ups in the game against the Highlanders and started the match winning all three doubles duals to win the first point of the game. The top Daemen doubles pairing of junior Alex Lumanog (Albuquerque, N.M.) and senior Juan Alvarez (Puebla, Mexico) won their third doubles match of the season, topping the Highlander No. 1 doubles team of Graham Cook and Nolan Zach, 6-1. Junior Rohan Chitanand (Den Haag, Netherlands) and sophomore Lucas Garcia (Bogota, Columbia) earned their first win of the season at No. 2 doubles in a 6-2 victory over Samual Garay and Jason Murphy. At third doubles, senior Jayven Williamson (Minneapolis, Minn.) and freshman Vondin Henderson (Tonawanda, N.Y.) earned their first win of the year, topping Houghton's Peter Tobolski and Isaac Anderson, 6-1. Daemen continued their domination at singles play, winning all six matches. Alvarez earned his second straight win in a 6-0, 6-0 fashion at top singles. Lumanog won his second singles match of the season at No. 2 singles (6-1, 6-0), while Garcia picked up his second victory at third singles this season with a 6-0, 6-3 victory. Chitanand went 6-1, 6-2 over Tobolski at fourth singles for his fifth win in that spot this year, while Williamson (4-6, 6-3, 10-1) battled it out to collect his first No. 5 singles win this year. Henderson earned his first collegiate victory in a 6-0, 6-1 rout over Anderson at sixth singles. On Saturday against the Cardinals, the Wildcats had just five players dressed out but won all matches that they appeared in, earning the doubles point after winning No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Chitanand and Garcia played in top doubles for the first time this season and took down the top Cardinals pair of Sean Brown and Will Chubb in a 6-1 decision. At second doubles, Lumanog and Williamson paired up for the first time this season and won No. 2 doubles in a 6-0 decision. Without a sixth player today, the Wildcats forfeited No. 3 doubles but had already won the first point of the match. Daemen continued the domination and won all five singles matches that they played in. Playing at top singles for the first time in his career, Garcia came out with the 6-4, 6-2 win. Lumanog easily handled Brown (6-2, 6-0) at No. 2 doubles and Chitanand rolled to a 6-0, 6-1 victory at third singles. Williamson won his second straight singles match with a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 4 singles, and after coming off his first collegiate win, Henderson battled in a tiebreak to win 6-7 (4), 6-4, 10-7 at fifth singles to make it a perfect five for five for the Cats.

WEEKLY AWARDS
For the first time this season, a Daemen player picked up a weekly award from the ECC. Lucas Garcia was named the ECC Player of the Week after going 4-0 in singles (2-0) and doubles (2-0) to help the Wildcats to a 2-0 week.

PRESEASON POLL
The Wildcats were selected fourth in the 2025 East Coast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, as voted on by the league's four coaches. Daemen has finished fourth in the ECC in each of the three seasons under head coach Richard Greco, Jr. Defending conference champions Queens College (14 points, 2 first place votes) topped the poll alongside St. Thomas Aquinas College (14 points, 2 first place votes) with both teams tied for first place. The University of the District of Columbia (8 points) is third in the poll, followed by Daemen (4 points). Daemen went 5-15 on the year in the 2023-24 season and 0-6 in ECC play a season ago.

A LOOK AT THE TEAM
The Wildcats return six players from the 2023-24 team along with the addition of freshman Vondin Henderson (Tonawanda, N.Y.) who participated in the fall slate. Daemen went 2-5 in the fall portion of the season. Senior Juan Alvarez (Puebla, Mexico) and junior Rohan Chitanand (Den Haag, Netherlands) led the Wildcats with four singles victories a piece in the fall, with Alvarez going 2-2 in No. 1 singles and 2-0 in No. 2 singles and Chitanand compiling all four wins at No. 5 singles. In doubles action in the fall, the No. 3 pairing of Chitanand and senior Jayven Williamson (Minneapolis, Minn.) led the Cats with four doubles wins while the second doubles duo of sophomores Lasse Mergens (Bochum, Germany) and Lucas Garcia (Bogota, Columbia) finished with a 3-1 record in No. 2 doubles play.

UP NEXT
Daemen will host Bloomsburg (Friday, March 28) and District of Columbia (Saturday, March 29) at Miller Tennis Center next weekend.

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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