Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team

Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement

Delaney Fragale picked up her second singles win of the season tonight

Women's Tennis 10/5/2016 10:33:00 PM Mike Miranto, Associate A.D. for Communications

Division I Niagara Nixes Daemen's Upset Bid

AMHERST, N.Y. - Bidding for their first win in team history against an NCAA Division I opponent, the Daemen College women's tennis team came up short today, falling to Niagara University 8-1 under the lights at the Ellicott Tennis Courts this evening.

With the loss, Daemen falls to 2-6 on the season, while the visiting Purple Eagles, a member of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, improve to 1-0. NU, which is coming off a 2015-16 season in which it qualified for the MAAC Tournament, had seen only tournament action thus far in 2016-17, before tonight's dual-match.

The Purple Eagles opened the match by sweeping through doubles play to establish a 3-0 lead. Junior Sharlee Deshmukh (Pune, India) teamed with classmate and fellow returner Stella Peisakhova (Odessa, Ukraine) to set the tone with an 8-4 win in first doubles over DC's top pair of senior Karli Hollins (Orchard Park, N.Y./SUNY Geneseo) and sophomore Jessica Robins (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda).

Sophomore Shannon Wong (Baie Du Tombeau, Mauritius) paired up with newcomer Ali Hutchinson for an 8-1 win in second doubles vs. junior Gretchen Ringler (North Tonawanda, N.Y./North Tonawanda) and senior Hayle Scanlan (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian), while teammates Jasmin Vargas (Providence, R.I.) and Sansriti Ranjan completed the doubles sweep by downing Shaylah Iverson (Canandaigua, N.Y./Naples) and Delaney Fragale (Lockport, N.Y./Lockport) in third doubles (8-3).

As the match shifted to singles play, Peisakhova, Wong, Hutchinson, Ranjan and Deshmukh earned points for NU in the first through fifth singles positions. Wong, who led the team in singles wins last season with 13, was a 6-2, 6-3 winner over Scanlan, Daemen's all-time leader in singles wins with 39.

Fragale came up with a 6-1, 6-0 win in sixth singles over Vargas to help Daemen avoid the shutout.

The final score represented Daemen's first loss this season by more than three points.

It also marked the second win for NU in the all-time series with Daemen. The Wildcats and Purple Eagles met for the first time last March with the latter scoring a 7-2 victory,

Daemen competes at home for the second time this week on Friday, October 7 as Cedarville University comes to town.

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

Shaylah Iverson: 5' 6"; Redshirt Senior

Players Mentioned

Karli Hollins
: 5' 5"; Senior

Gretchen Ringler
: 5' 5"; Junior

Jessica Robins
: 5' 0"; Sophomore

Hayle Scanlan
: 5' 5"; Senior

Shaylah Iverson
: 5' 6"; Redshirt Senior