WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's tennis team played well in their first-ever dual match against an NCAA Division I opponent, but ultimately fell 5-3 to visiting Niagara University today at Miller Tennis Center.

The Purple Eagles, an affiliate of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, improve to 2-7 on the season, while Daemen (2-9) suffered the anguish of defeat for the seventh-straight match.

Early on, it looked as if the Wildcats were poised to pull of the upset, winning two of the three doubles matchups.  Joey Gentile (East Amherst, N.Y./Niagara University), a senior playing against his former team, hooked up with classmate Gregory Lowe (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) to win a tight 9-8 decision in second doubles over NU's Brent Boleslav and Joseph Smithyman.  In third doubles, John LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) and his brother Andrew LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) took down NU's Mark Mackowski and Lukas Wenninger, 8-4.

But, the Purple Eagles would go on to pick up four victories in singles action to clinch the dual-match victory.  DC's Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) was the lone Wildcat to breakthrough, winning his first singles match with Francis Nadeau, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

Daemen is now idle until visiting West Virginia Wesleyan College on March 19.