Hayle Scanlan, Daemen's all-time leader in both singles and doubles victories, returns for her senior season in 2016-17

Women's Tennis 8/22/2016 2:24:00 PM

Women's Tennis Sits Seventh In ECC Preseason Poll

2016 ECC WOMEN'S TENNIS PRESEASON POLL
Rank	School	Pts.	2015-16 Record
1	NYIT (8)	64	20-7, 7-0 ECC
2	Queens	54	16-4, 6-1 ECC
3	District of Columbia	47	6-9, 5-2 ECC
4	LIU Post	42	6-7, 4-3 ECC
5	Roberts Wesleyan	31	9-12, 2-5 ECC
6	St. Thomas Aquinas	22	7-7, 3-4 ECC
7	DAEMEN	16	8-16, 1-6 ECC
8	Molloy	12	0-13, 0-7 ECC
( ) - first place votes

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's tennis team has been picked to finish seventh in the East Coast Conference standings during the upcoming 2016-17 season after a vote of the league's eight head coaches was compiled into the ECC preseason poll which was released today from conference headquarters in Central Islip, N.Y.

Daemen received 16 points in the poll, edging out eighth-place Molloy College (12 points). It marks the second straight year that Daemen has been picked to finish seventh. Fifth-place Roberts Wesleyan College (31 points) and sixth-place Saint Thomas Aquinas College (22 points), a pair of teams which Daemen battled in close defeats last season, just outrank the Wildcats at this season's outset. The Wildcats are coming off an 8-16 campaign in 2015-16 (1-6 in ECC play), the third straight year that head coach Stephen Beatty's squad has tallied eight victories.

"I am really looking forward to the upcoming season," said Beatty, now entering his fourth year at the helm. "I think we have a good mix of veteran players and some solid newcomers who should come together and hopefully push us up the standings. We've plateaued at eight wins the last few years, but I really feel that with this group we can break through that barrier. Where will those extra wins come from? I think you have to look at the teams ahead of us in this poll. We've played tough, tight matches with them in the past. If we're to take the next step as a program and challenge for a conference tournament berth, we've got to find a way to chase down those teams and pull out wins. I think we have the team to do that this season."

Atop the poll sits New York Institute of Technology which swept all eight first-place votes to earn the distinction of being the league's unanimous favorite for the second consecutive year. It's the fourth straight year overall that the Bears have been picked first in the ECC preseason poll. NYIT has won 32 consecutive ECC matches including conference tournament action, and the Bears are coming off a 20-7 campaign last season which saw them advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Division II Tournament.

Queens College, which owns the last victory for an ECC team against NYIT (6-3 on September 18, 2012), earned 54 points to finish second in the poll. The Knights earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament last season, finishing at 16-4 overall. University of the District of Columbia (47 points) and Long Island University Post (42 points) round out the poll's top four vote-getters.

In addition to releasing the preseason poll, the conference office also announced that NYIT's Lena Dimmer has been tabbed the ECC Preseason Player of the Year. Dimmer comes to the Bears as a junior transfer from California University of Pennsylvania where she compiled a 20-7 singles record and a 25-4 doubles mark to earn first-team All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West honors.

Beatty's squad returns its top five performers from last season. That includes senior Hayle Scanlan (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) who is the Wildcats' all-time leader in singles (33) and doubles (28) victories, as well as classmate Karli Hollins (Orchard Park, N.Y./SUNY Geneseo) who set program records for single-season victories in both singles (13) and doubles (17) last year.

Daemen opens its 2016-17 season with non-league matches at Fairmont State University (September 10) and Seton Hill University (September 11) before jumping into ECC play on September 16 at UDC.

For breaking news and continuing coverage of the Daemen women's tennis team, follow @DaemenAthletics and @DaemenTennis on Twitter.

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Players Mentioned

Karli Hollins: 5' 5"; Senior

Hayle Scanlan: 5' 5"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Karli Hollins
: 5' 5"; Senior

Hayle Scanlan
: 5' 5"; Senior