AMHERST, N.Y. - Senior Christina Stasiuk (Bowmansville, N.Y.) and freshman Frida Rubio (San Diego, Calif.) of the Daemen College women's tennis team have each earned weekly accolades from the East Coast Conference for matches played April 5-11. Stasiuk has been named the ECC Player of the Week while Rubio was selected as the ECC Rookie of the Week. The official announcement came in the ECC's weekly sport report which was released this afternoon.
Stasiuk and Rubio have set the tone at the top of Daemen's lineup and their performances have helped the Wildcats (3-0, 2-0 ECC) get off to the best start to a season in the nine-year history of the program. Last week, the duo led Daemen to shutout victories against D'Youville (7-0) and Fredonia State (9-0).
Teaming together in the No. 1 doubles position, Stasiuk and Rubio dropped only two games while posting victories over DYC's Julia Clapper and Faith Falkowski (6-0) and Fredonia State's Jane Chiacchia and Taylor Marelli (6-2). The pair of victories improved Stasiuk and Rubio's record to 3-0 as Daemen's top doubles pair this season.
In singles play, both players earned 6-0, 6-0 sweeps in both matches they played. Rubio appeared in the No. 1 singles position and defeated Clapper (D'Youville) and Chiacchia (Fredonia State). Stasiuk appeared in the No. singles position and cruised to wins over Alisson Meissner (D'Youville) and Marelli (Fredonia State).
With her singles win against D'Youville, Stasiuk passed Karli Hollins for fourth place on Daemen's all-time wins list. Against Fredonia State, she became just the fourth player in team history to reach 60 combined singles and doubles victories in a career. Stasiuk is now the first Daemen player to earn ECC Player of the Week honors since the Wildcats began competing in the conference in 2013.
Rubio is now Daemen's first multi-time recipient of ECC Rookie of the Week honors. She was also named the award recipient on March 22 following Daemen's season-opening victory over D'Youville. Rubio is one of only three Daemen players to be named Rookie of the Week, joining Brianna Fiorita (2013) and Lorissa Yuen (2017).
Rubio, Stasiuk and the Wildcats return to action this weekend with ECC road matches at St. Thomas Aquinas (Saturday, April 17) and Queens (Sunday, April 18).
Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.
Support Daemen College's return to intercollegiate athletic competitions by making a contribution to the Game On Campaign and the Daemen Wildcats Gotta Play Fund. This comprehensive fundraising campaign was established to help offset the loss of valuable external revenue streams that directly support Daemen's 17 varsity teams. To learn more, visit daemenwildcats.com/gameon.
