WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - In a match that lasted nearly four hours, visiting Cedarville University emerged with a 6-3 victory over Daemen College in non-conference men's tennis action at Miller Tennis Center this evening.

The loss, Daemen's third-straight, sends the Wildcats to 2-5 on the season, while Cedarville improves to 5-2.  The win completed the Yellow Jackets' three-match tour through Western New York which included a 9-0 shutout of Division III Houghton College and an 8-1 loss to Daemen's East Coast Conference brethren from Roberts Wesleyan College.

CU, a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, came through with the win, but this one was hotly contested at nearly every position.  The Yellow Jackets opened by securing two of the three available points from tonight's doubles matches.  Ryan Shomo and Joel Clark were 8-6 winners over Daemen's Gregory Lowe (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) and Joey Gentile (East Amherst, N.Y./Niagara University) in the top spot.  In No. 2 doubles, CU's Matt Brumbaugh and Jonathan Class won 9-7 against Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) and John LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda).

Daemen got on the board with a point from its No. 3 doubles pairing of Andrew LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) and Justin Millner (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca).  They teamed for the first time and won 8-4 over CU's Luke Ingles and Stephen Combs.

The results in doubles play meant Daemen would need points from four of the six singles matchups to pull out the dual-match victory, but they got only half of what they needed.  The sophomore Veitengruber came through for Daemen in the most competitive match of the night, winning in the No. 1 singles slot over Brumbaugh 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.  Andrew LeMar picked up his second point of the match by winning his No. 3 singles match with Clark 6-3, 6-2.  Veitengruber (9-5) and LeMar (7-7) lead the Wildcats in total singles' victories so far this season.

But, Cedarville took points in slots two, four, five and six to secure the win.  Shomo battled Gentile in the No. 2 slot, winning 7-6, 6-2.  Ingles, Class and David Carter pulled through relatively unscathed in the others.  The Daemen lineup took a hit when the veteran Lowe had to be scratched from singles competition due to an illness.

Despite the loss, it was an encouraging performance for the Wildcats against a Cedarville program which boasts three-straight 11-win seasons.  Plus, tonight's match marked the career debut of the freshman Milner, one of coach Stephen Beatty's top recruits who has battled injuries throughout the early portion of the season.

Daemen looks to get off the proverbial schneid when they visit Mercyhurst University tomorrow (Sunday, February 21) in another non-conference dual-match.