AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen University men's tennis team returns to Western New York for the first match since Sept. 28 as they host West Liberty on Saturday evening at 6 PM at Miller Tennis Center for their first home match of the spring. The Wildcats, who are playing their fourth match of the semester, come into Saturday with a 2-6 record and are looking for their first win of the spring while West Liberty is 2-0 this season, with both wins coming in the fall.
Daemen is coming off a 5-2 loss at Bloomsburg last Friday. The Huskies took the first point of the game after winning all three doubles matches, but the Wildcats were able to take two points with wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Freshman
Mitch Pollack (Winnipeg, Man.) was the victor at No. 5 with a marathon 6-4, 4-6, 14-12 decision, while fellow freshman
Jordan Hamdan (Johnson City, N.Y.) won his contest at No. 6 by a 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) score. It marked the first points of the spring for the Wildcats, who lost 0-7 in both matches in the first weekend of the spring season at Walsh and Ashland (Jan. 30-31).
With an upperclassmen-heavy team that features four players with at least 20 combined singles/doubles wins in
Rohan Chitanand (Den Haag, Netherlands),
Alex Lumanog (Albuquerque, N.M.),
Lasse Mergens (Bochum, Germany) and
Lucas Garcia (Bogota, Colombia), Daemen's newcomers have seen the most success in the young season thus far. Sophomore
Riley Fitzgerald (Auburn, N.Y.) and freshman
Mitch Pollack (Winnipeg, Man.) each have three singles victories this season. Pollack also leads the Wildcats with four doubles wins.
Saturday's match marks just the second time the Wildcats and Hilltoppers meet on the court and the first time since 2014. West Liberty went 1-11 last season and features a very young roster on their 25-26 squad with seven of their 10 players being underclassmen. This season, the Hilltoppers picked up non-league victories in the fall against Washington & Jefferson (5-2) and Franciscan (6-1).
Daemen remains at home next weekend where they will host St. Lawrence on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 1:30 PM at Miller Tennis Center.
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