WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - Playing their second home dual match of the weekend, the Daemen College men's tennis team fell to visiting Mercyhurst University by the final score of 8-1 in non-conference action at Miller Tennis Center today.

With the loss, Daemen falls to 1-6 on the season.  The match today was their second of 10 home contests this spring.

Mercyhurst, a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, improved to 2-0 on the season with the win.  Today's contest was the Lakers' first dual match since a 9-0 blanking of Division III Allegheny College last September.  The Lakers are coming off an 11-9 campaign in 2015-16 which included their second consecutive at-large berth to the Atlantic Regional portion of the NCAA Tournament.

Mercyhurst grabbed control of the match by sweeping through doubles play at the outset, including a pair of tight victories in the first and third positions.  At the top of the lineup, senior Joaquin Aguilera (Santiago, Chile) and junior Nenad Terzic (Belgrade, Serbia) squeaked by the Wildcats' top duo of junior Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford) and sophomore Justin Milner (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) 9-8.  In third doubles, it was newcomers Arseniy Sklyarov (Toronto, Ont.) and Sebastian Pardo (Whitby, Ont.) teaming up to sneak past sophomores David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira) and Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain/American International College) 8-6.

Ruiz Martinez would break up the clean sweep for Mercyhurst in singles play, winning his match in the third position over Aguilera in three sets (6-2, 6-7, 1-0).  It was an impressive showing for the newcomer as he took down Aguilera who was a first-team All-PSAC selection last season.  It was just the second match in a Daemen uniform for Ruiz Martinez who transferred from American International College following the fall semester.

Daemen's best chance to pick up another point came in fifth singles as Milner matched up with Pardo.  The Laker freshman took the opening set 6-4 before Milner evened things up in the second (6-3).  Pardo took the deciding third set 1-0 to secure the point for Mercyhurst.

Daemen has now dropped four straight matches, all by the same 8-1 final score.  That includes a loss in their spring season opener to West Virginia Wesleyan College on Friday evening.

Daemen is now idle until Salem International University visits on Friday, Feb. 17 to close out a three-match home-stand for the Wildcats.