PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Over the weekend, the Daemen College women's tennis team competed in the 2015 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Regional Tournament hosted this year by University of the Sciences.

Coach Stephen Beatty's team put forth, arguably, its best showing ever at the annual tournament that brings together numerous NCAA Division II programs from the East Region.  Juniors Karli Hollins (Orchard Park, N.Y./SUNY Geneseo) and Hayle Scanlan (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) led the way, teaming up in the "B" Doubles bracket to go 4-1, advancing to the finals.

In the opening round, Hollins and Scanlan were 8-6 winners over East Coast Conference rivals Shannon Biehle and Sara O'Brien from Saint Thomas Aquinas College.  They went on to defeat Tess Malerbi and Ashley Sulkin of Saint Anselm College, 8-1, followed by a 6-3 victory over Julia Bellon and Hayley Craskey of Chestnut Hill College.  The latter put the Daemen duo in the smifinals to face Merrimack College's Lauren Persson and Mana Seifaei, winning there, 6-4.

In the finals, Hollins and Scanlan saw their run come to an end, however, falling 8-4 to Saint Anselm's Jess Perkins and Meghan Golden.  By earning four wins, Hollins and Scanlan became the first Daemen pairing in the history of the program to advance to the finals at this event.

The Wildcats also picked up a win in the "B" Doubles draw from sophomore Sarah Crissy (Tonawanda, N.Y./Kenmore East) and freshman Delaney Fragale (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) who took down Jacqueline Clyne and Alexis Daubert of Holy Family University in the opening round, 8-6.  But, they were bounced in the round of 16 by the eventual champions, Perkins and Golden.

In singles action, Scanlan was on point, going 3-1 to advance into the quarterfinals of the "B" Singles bracket.  In doing so, she earned wins over representatives from two of the three East Region conferences, beginning with an 8-1 defeat of Saint Thomas Aquinas' Raven DeLeon (ECC).  That was followed by back-to-back wins over players from Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference teams - 6-1 over Elkanah Linder from the host University of the Sciences, and 6-1 over Sarah Namazi from Post University.  But, Scanlan would exit after suffering a 6-3 defeat to Chestnut Hill's Axe Owens with a semifinal bid on the line.

Crissy and Fragale also picked up singles victories in the same bracket.  Fragale swept by Molloy College's Tiffany Nagasawa, 8-0, and Crissy earned a hard-fought 9-7 win over Jillyan Serrano of Sciences.  Both were defeated in the second round.

Hollins was the lone Wildcat to enter the "A" Singles draw, falling in the opening round to Frederike Boemer of Queens College, 6-3, 6-2.

Daemen returns to dual matches later this week, hosting University of the District of Columbia on Friday, September 25 in ECC action.