ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Despite wins in singles play from their top two players, the Daemen College women's tennis team saw their return to East Coast Conference dual-match play get spoiled by visiting St. Thomas Aquinas College by the final score of 6-3 this afternoon at the Midtown Athletic Club.

The loss drops Daemen to 2-5 overall this season, including an 0-3 mark in ECC matches.  Daemen, which was coming off its first tournament appearance of the year at last weekend's Bloomsburg Invitational, has seen all five of its losses come by three points or less.

STAC, which was coming off a slim 5-4 loss to Roberts Wesleyan College on Friday, rebounded for the win today to improve to 4-5 overall and 2-4 in the league.

Seniors Karli Hollins (Orchard Park, N.Y./SUNY Geneseo) and Hayle Scanlan (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) earned points for the Wildcats win their wins in the first and second singles positions, respectively.  Hollins, who did not participate in last week's tournament, downed STAC's Bianca Signore (Staten Island, N.Y.) 6-3, 6-2.  It was Hollins' second straight win in singles play dating back to the Wildcats' match with Roberts Wesleyan on September 21.  Scanlan added to her program-record total of singles victories by taking out junior Nyenyeri Kanefu (Rutherford, N.J.) 6-3, 6-1.  The Indiana native now leads Daemen with a personal record of 6-3 in singles play which gives her 39 singles wins in her four-year career.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, STAC was able to sweep through the remaining singles matches.  Katarina Lopez (New City, N.Y.), Sara O'Brien (Orangeburg, N.Y.), Raven DeLeon (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Shannon Biehle (Tomkins Cove, N.Y.) won in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth singles positions, respectively.

STAC's four singles wins were enough to clinch the match after they opened up a one-point lead by taking two of the three doubles matches at the outset.  Signore and O'Brien were the Spartans' top pair today, besting the Wildcat duo of Hollins and Jessica Robins (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) 8-4 in first doubles.  DeLeon and Biehle were 8-1 winners over Daemen's Delaney Fragale (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) and Shaylah Iverson (Canandaigua, N.Y./Naples).

Daemen's lone point in doubles play came in the second position where Scanlan teamed with junior Gretchen Ringler (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) to oust Kanefu and Lopez 8-4.

Daemen looks to snap its current three-match slide when the Wildcats host Division I Niagara University on Wednesday, October 5.

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