MATCH INFORMATION
Match #20
Daemen Wildcats (2-17, 0-7 ECC) vs. Houghton Highlanders (5-9, 4-4 E8)
Wednesday, March 27 |  4 PM |  Houghton, N.Y.  |  Kerr-Pegula Field House

THE SERVE
Daemen looks for its second consecutive victory when they make the short trip to face Houghton. The Wildcats are are coming off an 8-1 defeat of Thiel this past weekend. Houghton has posted a 5-9 record, and the Highlanders are coming off an 8-1 defeat of Penn State Behrend last week.

MCDERMOTT ERA
The 2018-19 season marks the start of a new era for Daemen as head coach Kerry McDermott begins his first season with the program. In early July, McDermott was named the third head coach in team history after spending the last 36 seasons as the head men's tennis coach at the University of Nebraska. In that time, McDermott led the Huskers to 405 victories, the most of any coach in team history, and two NCAA Tournament appearances. His tenure at the Division I school also included one season (1988-89) as the Huskers' head women's tennis coach. 

10! 
Daemen is coming off a 10-14 record in 2017-18, the program's first-ever 10-win season. The record-setting campaign included eight victories during the fall season, also the most the team has ever achieved, and tying the program record for wins in an entire season which had been done in each of the three previous seasons. An 8-1 win over Clarion on Feb. 23 broke that mark, and the Wildcats went on to add a 6-3 win over Fairmont State on April 7 to break into double figures. 

ROCKIN' ROBINS
Senior Jessica Robins returns to the lineup as the team's most experienced and accomplished player. The North Tonawanda, N.Y. native has been a fixture in the lineup over her first three collegiate seasons, and is coming off the strongest season of her career. She posted a career-best 13 singles wins in 2017-18, tied for fourth among the program's all-time single season leaders. Now with 64 combined singles and doubles wins in her career, Robins ranks third in team history. Her 60th win came against St. Thomas Aquinas' Anna Ristova earlier this season as she became just the third player in team history to reach 60 combined wins.

SUPER SOPH
Sophomore Christina Stasiuk also returns to the lineup after making an immediate impact in her rookie season. Stasiuk set a new benchmark for singles wins in a season, racking up 18 of them last year. She surpassed the previous record for singles wins by a freshman (13) set by Gretchen Ringler in 2014-15, and later eclipsed the overall record of 14 singles wins set by Hayle Scanlan in 2016-17. Stasiuk leads the team with seven singles wins this season. She recorded the 25th singles win of her career in an 8-1 defeat of Thiel on March 24; she has become just the sixth player in team history to reach 25 singles wins. 

ROAD WARRIORS
Daemen will spend some significant time on the road this spring as all 13 of their matches occur away from home. That includes the team's first-ever trip to California where they'll face Angelo State (Mar. 12) and Southern Utah (Mar. 14). In-state road matches occur Feb. 23 at Le Moyne, Mar. 10 at St. Bonaventure, Mar. 27 at Houghton, Apr. 2 at Elmira, Apr. 15 at Oswego State, Apr. 17 at Alfred and Apr. 23 at Niagara..

HOUGHTON SCOUTING REPORT
Houghton is a member of NCAA Division III and the Empire 8 Conference. The Highlanders are led by first-year head coach Tonya McGraner who took the reins after spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Division II Lee University (Tenn.). The Highlanders have posted a 5-9 record, including a 4-4 mark in Empire 8 play, and have won two of their last four matches. They are coming off an 8-1 defeat of Penn State Behrend last week. The Highlanders are 0-1 against Division II opponents this season; they suffered a 9-0 loss to Roberts Wesleyan on Sept. 27. Kaylee Jentsch leads the team with 13 combined singles/doubles wins this season, while Amanda Carl (team-high eight singles wins) has posted 12. 

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. HOUGHTON
Series Record: 5-0
Streak: Won 5
Last Meeting: Daemen 7, Houghton 2 (Oct. 5, 2017)

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen plays Tuesday, April 2 at Elmira.