Firebirds Pull Off 5-4 Victory in ECC Opener vs. Daemen
WILLIAMSVILLE, NY – The University of the District of Columbia men's tennis team won its 2nd straight match, defeating host Daemen College, 5-4 on Friday night at the Miller Tennis Center in both teams' East Coast Conference season opener.
The Firebirds (2-2, 1-0 ECC) won two of three doubles matches and three of six singles matches to claim the victory – it's 4th straight win over the Wildcats in as many meetings since 2014. Daemen dropped its 3rd straight match to fall to 5-14 overall and 0-1 in league play.
Daemen won the first point as David Gonzalez and Ricardo Ruiz bested UDC's Alexis Baguelin and Ander Murillo, 8-3 at No. 2 doubles. The Firebirds went on to win the two remaining doubles matches though, as Rok Bozic and Diego Pinto outlasted Mark Veitengruber and Fabian Wilde, 9-7 at No. 1 doubles, and Marco Feligioni and Josip Marinic won a grueling match at No. 3 doubles over Andrew LeMar and Adam Kerr, 9-8 (4).
Marinic improved to 2-0 in singles play in this, his rookie campaign, as he defeated LeMar, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6 for the first singles point of the night. Baguelin followed with a 6-4, 6-3 No. 3 singles win over Wilde, and extended UDC's lead to 4-1.
The Wildcats tried to claw their way back by winning the next two completed singles matches at No. 4 and No. 2 as they pulled within, 4-3. UDC's Rok Bozic put an end to that, however, as he earned the decisive 5th point for UDC with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Gonzalez at No. 1.
Daemen's Justin Milner earned the final point of the match in a No. 5 singles win to make the final score, 5-4.
UDC is scheduled to host regional foe Philadelphia University on Sunday, March 26th, weather-permitting.