WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - Daemen College battled valliantly against their rivals from Roberts Wesleyan College today, but ultimately fell 6-3 before a lively crowd at the Williamsville South High School tennis courts on what was an absolutely gorgeous day for East Coast Conference men's tennis action.

With the loss, the Wildcats conclude their 2015-16 season having won three of their last five matches, finishing at 5-17 overall and 0-5 in ECC play.  The visiting Redhawks (11-11, 1-3 ECC) keep their hopes for an ECC Tournament berth alive after securing their first league victory of the season today.  RWC hosts University of the District of Columbia (4-8, 2-2 ECC) this Saturday in their regular season finale, needing a win plus help from other teams around the league to earn their second straight postseason berth at the NCAA Division II level.

RWC took a 2-1 lead in the match after doubles play.  The Redhawks' top pair of Charles Farres (Portsmouth, England) and Robert Beer (Craiova, Romania) opened things up with an 8-4 defeat of Daemen's Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) and Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford).  

Daemen seniors Gregory Lowe (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) and Joey Gentile (East Amherst, N.Y./Niagara University) won 9-7 at second doubles versus RWC's Rene Torti (Metepec, Mexico) and Guilherme Plentz de Liz (Florianapolis, Brazil) in a match that had both sides cheering loudly after big shots.  It was Lowe and Gentile's team-best seventh win as a pair this season.

Another tight, 9-7 match went the way of the Redhawks as Jose Lopez Tapia (Huajuapan de Leon, Mexico) and Jose Maria Carillo (Grand Canary Island, Spain) downed the Wildcat freshmen duo of David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira) and Andrew LeMar (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda).

RWC then sealed the dual-match victory with wins in four of the six singles matchups.  Farres, a first-team All-ECC pick last season, improved to 19-6 on the season with his 6-3, 7-6 win in first singles over Veitengruber.  The Daemen sophomore finished the season at 13-16 in singles play, leading the team in singles victories for the second straight season.

Beer was a 6-0, 6-3 winner over Gentile in second singles, while Lopez Tapia won a hotly contested match (4-6, 6-4, 7-5) with his South American counterpart Gonzalez Villegas in third singles.  In fifth singles, Plentz de Liz snapped Milner's personal four-match winning streak, 7-5, 6-3.

Daemen picked up singles wins from LeMar in fourth singles and Lowe in sixth singles.  LeMar was impressive in his 6-4, 6-1 dispatching of Torti who entered with an even 11-11 mark in singles play this year.  LeMar finishes his rookie campaign at 12-17 in singles play.  Lowe, the veteran, won a gutsy, three-set affair (4-6, 6-0, 1-0) after dropping the opening set versus Maria Carillo. Six of Lowe's nine singles wins this season have come since mid-March.

The loss was Daemen's eighth this season by three points or less.

The match was the final collegiate contest in the careers of Lowe, Gentile and Zach Kinnaird (Amherst, N.Y./Sweet Home) who were recognized in a brief pre-match ceremony.  Lowe and Kinnaird are the first four-year members of the program, having each been on the roster since the team's inception in 2012-13.  Gentile has been a fixture in the lineup in each of the last two seasons since transferring from Division I Niagara University.