Women's Tennis 6/29/2017 10:45:00 AM

Fall Portion Of 2017-18 Women's Tennis Schedule Announced

AMHERST, N.Y. - The Daemen College women's tennis team opens the 2017-18 season with a three-match road trip to the New England Region over Labor Day weekend, part of an 18-match fall schedule announced by head coach Stephen Beatty today. In addition to the dual-matches on the docket, Beatty's squad will participate in two tournaments during the month of September.

"We're going to be facing many new opponents this year," said Beatty who enters his fifth season as the team's head coach. "This is the first time we've had matches so early in September, but match play is the best way to prepare for our conference schedule so I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do."

The season officially gets underway on Saturday, September 2 when the Wildcats travel to Colchester, Vt. to face St. Michael's College out of the Northeast-10 Conference. That's followed by a match against fellow NE-10 member American International College in Springfield, Mass. the next day. The trip concludes on Monday, September 4 when the Wildcats square off with their third NE-10 opponent of the trip - Bentley University - in Waltham, Mass. The Wildcats have never met St. Michael's or American International, two teams that combined to go 7-20 last season. Daemen's only prior meeting with Bentley was a 9-0 loss two seasons ago. Last year, the Falcons went 15-9 and finished fourth in the NE-10 standings, ultimately bowing out of their conference tournament in the semifinal round.

East Coast Conference play begins the following weekend with Daemen visiting Queens College (Saturday, September 9) and Molloy College (Sunday, September 10) for back-to-back matches. Queens represents a significant test to open league play as the Knights are coming off a 14-4 campaign last season that saw them advance to the ECC Tournament finals and to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. The weekend is capped by facing a Molloy team went just 1-12 last season, including 0-7 in league play. Daemen owns a three-match winning streak in the all-time series with the Lions.

The opening stretch marks the second-straight season that Daemen begins with five road contests in a row, and the sixth-straight season with at least three road or neutral site matches at the outset.

The Wildcats finally get a taste of home cooking when hosting the Daemen Invitational Tournament at the Ellicott Tennis Courts from Friday, September 15 through Sunday, September 17. The weekend-long event will feature seven singles draws and four doubles draws as fellow Division II affiliates Roberts Wesleyan College, Clarion University and Millersville University are scheduled to partake, along with Division I Niagara University and Colgate University, and Division III Rochester Institute of Technology and Allegheny College.

Daemen returns to dual match play, albeit briefly, for the renewal of the Thruway Rivalry with Roberts Wesleyan on Tuesday, September 19 in Rochester. The Redhawks are coming off a 12-11 campaign last season, including a 3-4 mark in league play that placed them just outside of conference tournament contention. RWC has won six-straight meetings with Daemen, but the last two have been decided by tight 6-3 scores.

Later that week, Daemen returns to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Regional Tournament for the first time since 2015. This year's tournament, which runs from Friday, September 22 through Monday, September 25, brings together a majority of teams from the NCAA Division II East Region for an event which will be held at the prestigious United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., home of the U.S. Open.

"I am really looking forward to both tournaments we are playing in this fall," Beatty said. "Our home tournament will give us great experience with matches against opponents from all three NCAA divisions. And, I'm excited to take the team back to the ITA East Regional Tournament. Playing at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be a a great experience for our student-athletes, and one that's not afforded to many college teams outside of our region."

A matchup with the University of the District of Columbia on Friday, September 29 jump-starts a string of five-straight home matches, all slated for outdoor play at the Ellicott Tennis Courts. The Firebirds went an even 7-7 last season and earned the No. 4 seed to the ECC Tournament with a 4-3 league record. Daemen battled in a 5-4 loss to UDC in our nation's capital last season, one of their five losses by three points or fewer, two of which came against conference tournament qualifying teams.

Saturday, September 30 brings a rare doubleheader to the Ellicott Tennis Courts as Daemen faces non-league foes Alderson-Broaddus University (10 a.m.) and Walsh University (2 p.m.). The day's opening match will be the first-ever meeting between Daemen and ABU which competes in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Daemen and Walsh met for the first time last season in North Canton, Ohio with the latter scoring a 9-0 win. Walsh, long a member of the now-defunct American Mideast Conference with Daemen during both institutions' NAIA days, now competes in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The Wildcats close out a busy weekend by hosting Division III State University of New York at Oswego on Sunday, October 1. Daemen scored an 8-1 win in their last contest with the Lakers which came during the 2015-16 season.

The homestand wraps up with Daemen's second Division III opponent in as many matches as Houghton College visits on Thursday, October 5. It'll mark the fifth-straight season that the Wildcats and Highlanders have met with Daemen owning a 4-0 edge in the all-time series coming in. The Wildcats are 23-13 all-time against Division III opponents.

On Friday, October 5, Daemen makes the short trek to Monteagle Ridge in Niagara County to face Niagara. There, the Wildcats will be seeking their first-ever win against a Division I opponent in just their fourth try. It'll mark the third-straight season that the Wildcats and Purple Eagles have met. NU won last season's get-together by an 8-1 final score.

A two-match swing through The Keystone State has Daemen visiting Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference affiliates Shippensburg University (Monday, October 9) and Millersville (Tuesday, October 10). The matches mark Daemen's first against the SU Raiders and MU Marauders, and they'll be seeking to erase a nine-match slide against PSAC teams.

Later that same week, Daemen returns to ECC play by visiting St. Thomas Aquinas College on Saturday, October 14. The Spartans scored a 6-3 win over the Wildcats in the teams' lone dual-match last season, marking their second win by three points or fewer out of four all-time meetings. STAC finished the 2016-17 season at 5-11 overall, and 2-5 in league play to sit in sixth place in the ECC standings.

The Wildcats' final non-league dual-match of the fall comes on Sunday, October 15 at Caldwell University. Daemen owns a pair of wins over CU in the last two seasons, including a 7-2 triumph nearly a year to the day before this next meeting will occur.

A pair of home matches the following weekend round out the fall portion of Daemen's 2017-18 schedule. The Wildcats host perennial ECC front runner N.Y. Institute of Technology for an indoor match at Miller Tennis Center on Friday, October 20. NYIT, which claimed its fifth-straight ECC title last season, enters 2017-18 riding a 39-match conference winning streak, including ECC Tournament action. The Bears went 16-1 last season, rattling off 16 consecutive wins before falling in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. The following day, Daemen hosts a Long Island University Post team that posted a 5-2 mark in league play to earn the No. 3 seed to the ECC Tournament last season.

The Wildcats will be playing for a top-four spot in the ECC standings which would give them their first-ever conference tournament berth. Dates and sites for the ECC Tournament are still to be announced.

Regardless of their status in the ECC standings at the conclusion of the fall season, Daemen's 2017-18 season will resume in February. Spring semester matches will be announced at a later time.

Daemen is coming off a 2016-17 season in which they achieved an 9-15 overall record to establish a new team record for wins in a season. The Wildcats have now won at least eight matches in four consecutive seasons. But, Beatty must cope with the graduation of two of his program's most decorated players in Hayle Scanlan (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) and Karli Hollins (Orchard Park, N.Y./SUNY Geneseo) who combined for 150 singles and doubles victories during their time donning the Daemen blue and white. Veterans Gretchen Ringler (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda), a senior, and Jessica Robins (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda), a junior, return to lead the team in 2017-18 after combining to make 249 singles and doubles appearances in their careers to date.

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

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Karli Hollins: 5' 5"; Senior

Gretchen Ringler: 5' 5"; Junior

Jessica Robins: 5' 0"; Sophomore

Hayle Scanlan: 5' 5"; Senior

Players Mentioned

Karli Hollins
: 5' 5"; Senior

Gretchen Ringler
: 5' 5"; Junior

Jessica Robins
: 5' 0"; Sophomore

Hayle Scanlan
: 5' 5"; Senior