ERIE, Pa. - Playing their second match in less than 24 hours, Daemen College suffered a 9-0 defeat on the road today, falling to Mercyhurst University 9-0 at the Westwood Racquet Club in non-conference men's tennis action.

The loss is Daemen's fourth-straight after posting a modest two-match winning streak, moving coach Stephen Beatty's squad to 2-5 this season.  Mercyhurst (3-2) jumps back over .500 on the season with today's victory, their fourth in the all-time series with Daemen against no defeats.  The Lakers are coming off a 15-7 campaign last season when they advanced to the finals of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II National Championships.

Daemen pushed the host Lakers in the top two doubles slots to open today's dual-match, but couldn't breakthrough with a point.  In the top spot, Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) and Joey Gentile (East Amherst, N.Y./Niagara University) teamed together for the first time this season, but fell 8-6 to MU's Travis Beck and Nenad Terzic.  Another first-time pairing saw Daemen's brother tandem - John LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) and Andrew LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) - fall 8-5 to Conor McCooey and Joaquin Aguilera in the No. 2 slot.

Mercyhurst completed the sweep of today's doubles matches by winning in the No. 3 slot, 8-3.  It was MU's Dusan Cerny Joe Paradiso teaming up to get the better of another first-time pairing for the Wildcats in Adam Kerr (Penfield, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) and Jorge Arias (Santiago, Chile/American British School).

The hosts went on to complete the shutout with wins in all six singles matches.  Veitengruber put up the best resistance for Daemen, but fell in the top singles spot to Terzic, 6-4, 6-3.

Daemen was without regular starter Gregory Lowe (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) who was forced from the lineup during yesterday's match versus Cedarville University due to an illness.  Lowe's absence meant an opportunity for sophomore Roberto Zambrano (Guayaquil, Ecuador/Broward College) to make his dual-match season debut, but he fell in the No. 6 singles slot to Cerny, 6-0, 6-2.

Daemen returns to action when the Wildcats play host to Le Moyne College on Saturday, February 27 at Miller Tennis Center.