AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College men's tennis team returned home to face Queens College today in an East Coast Conference match at the Ellicott Tennis Courts, falling 9-0.

The loss sends Daemen to 6-17 overall and 0-4 in ECC matches this season.  Queens, which came in as the top-ranked team in the latest NCAA Division II East Region rankings, improved to 11-5 overall while staying unblemished (4-0) in league play.

The Knights, who earlier this month snapped N.Y. Institute of Technology's 29-match ECC winning streak, opened today's action by taking a 3-0 lead after doubles play, led by Roman Laga (Baiersbronn, Germany) and Sharvil Nawghre (Nagpur, India), the top-ranked doubles pair in the region.  Laga and Nawghre topped Daemen's No. 1 pair of David Gonzalez Villegas (Pereira, Colombia/Liceo Frances de Pereira) and Fabian Wilde (Crimmitschau, Germany/Julius-Motteler).

The Knights also picked up wins on the second and third doubles courts from the pairings of Gabriel Mendez (Pachuca, Mexico) and Lucas Martinez (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and Federico Toscano (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Richard Sec (New York, N.Y.), respectively.

In singles play, Nawghre, Mendez, Martinez, Laga and Toscano all picked up their second points of the match with wins on the first, second, third, fifth and sixth courts, respectively.  QC's Cosme Jubera (Logrono, Spain), a player in the discussion for ECC Rookie of the Year honors, completed the sweep with a win on the fourth singles court.

Junior Mark Veitengruber (Rockford, Mich./Rockford), Daemen's all-time leader in singles wins, had the best chance to break through for the hosts today, but he fell in three sets to Mendez (6-2, 2-6, 1-0).

The Wildcats were without the services of Ricardo Ruiz Martinez (Valencia, Spain/American International College) who missed the match with an injury.  The sophomore standout has come on of late, winning five-straight singles matches to lead the team with 10 this season, while also pairing with Gonzalez Villegas atop the team's doubles lineup.

Despite the loss today, Daemen remains alive in the ECC Tournament picture.  The Wildcats will need a win Saturday over visiting St. Thomas Aquinas College, plus a Queens win at Roberts Wesleyan College to force a three-way tie for the fourth and final conference tourney bid.  The match with STAC is slated for a 1 p.m. start at the Ellicott Tennis Courts.