Match #11: Daemen Wildcats at St. Lawrence Saints | Saturday, March 8 | 12 PM | Canton, N.Y.
Match #12: Daemen Wildcats vs. Houghton Highlanders | Tuesday, March 11 | 12 PM | Williamsville, N.Y. | Miller Tennis Center
BACK AT IT
The Daemen University men's tennis team will play two matches this week, first heading down to Canton, N.Y. to play at St. Lawrence on Saturday, March 8 in a noon match then returning to WNY where they will host Houghton on Tuesday, March 11 at 12 PM. The Daemen women's team will also play against St. Lawrence in a non-conference spring match on Saturday. Daemen comes into the weekend with a 2-8 overall record and 0-3 record in spring matches. The Saints come in with a 1-2 record in the spring, while Houghton is 0-3 in the spring season.
LAST MATCH OUT
The Wildcats dropped a 6-1 decision to Edinboro on Sunday, Feb. 23 in their third match of the spring season. The Fighting Scots took the first point of the match after sweeping all three doubles matches. The Edinboro top doubles pair of Leon Grassnickel and Rocco Palombarini bested Daemen's No. 1 doubles pairing of junior
Alex Lumanog (Albuquerque, N.Y.) and senior
Juan Alvarez (Puebla, Mexico), 6-3. In second doubles, junior
Rohan Chitanand (Den Haag, Netherlands) and sophomore
Lucas Garcia (Bogota, Columbia) in a 6-4 dual. Daemen senior
Jayven Williamson (Minneapolis, Minn.) and freshman
Vondin Henderson (Tonawanda, N.Y.) were beaten 6-1 by Edinboro's Guillermo Rodriguez & Nils Weskamp in third doubles. In singles action, Alvarez earned his fourth victory at top singles this season with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 battle against Edinboro's Mathis Amsellem to earn the first point of the match for the Cats. Garcia and Palombarini took their No. 4 singles match up to three sets but the Wildcat sophomore was narrowly bested by Palombarini, 4-6, 6-3, 12-10. Edinboro would go on to win the rest of the singles pairings in the day to top the Cats, 6-1.
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 play at St. John Fisher next Saturday, March 15 in Rochester, N.Y.
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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