Women's Tennis Hosts RIT In Season Opener Tuesday

9/6/2021 1:30:00 PM

Match #1
Daemen Wildcats (0-0, 0-0 ECC) vs. RIT Tigers (0-0, 0-0 LL)
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 7
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: Williamsville, N.Y. | Williamsville South HS Courts

FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

1. START IT UP
Daemen opens the 2021-22 season Tuesday afternoon when RIT visits. It marks a return to the traditional fall season for the Wildcat women who played their entire 2020-21 schedule in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Daemen is coming off a 5-5 season - the program's first with at least a .500 winning percentage. The Wildcats posted a 3-2 mark in ECC play and qualified for the conference tournament for the first time in program history. The 2021-22 season marks the program's 10th season.

2. RETURNING VETERANS
The Wildcats bring back five players from their 2020-21 team. None is more experienced than graduate student Christina Stasiuk who is utilizing a fifth year of eligibility granted to student-athletes by the NCAA because of COVID-19. Stasiuk has 67 combined singles/doubles wins in her career, good for fourth on the program's all-time list. With six more victories this season, she'll move past Jessica Robins for third place. Stasiuk and Frida Rubio formed the Wildcats' top doubles duo a season. Rubio, now a sophomore, returns after earning All-ECC honors in her debut campaign. She became just the second women's tennis player from Daemen to be named to the All-ECC team. Both Stasiuk and Rubio recorded a team-high seven singles wins last season, as did Mackenzie Schayes who returns for her junior season.

3. FRESH FACES
Perhaps the biggest change from last season is in the head coach's seat as life-long Amherst resident Richard Greco, Jr. takes the reins from the departed Jesse Plote. Greco was introduced as the fifth head coach in program history earlier this summer. It marks his first foray into collegiate coaching after working at the high school level for several years. Two freshman - Yinett Del Leon and Kitsa Scime - are expected to be immediate contributors for the Wildcats this season.

4. POLL POSITION
Daemen has been picked fourth in the ECC preseason coaches' poll which was released in late August. The Wildcats sit behind Queens (N.Y.), St. Thomas Aquinas and District of Columbia in the poll, while edging fifth-place Molloy and sixth-place D'Youville. A fourth place finish would put the Wildcats back into the conference tournament for a second consecutive season. Both District of Columbia and Molloy are returning to competition after opting out of the 2020-21 season entirely.

5. ON THE HORIZON
Daemen hosts Walsh in a non-conference match this Saturday, Sept. 11 at the Williamsville South High School courts.

RIT TIGERS SCOUTING REPORT
RIT is a member of NCAA Division III and the Liberty League. The Tigers are led by head coach Raphaela Jann who guided the team to a 3-5 record in her debut season last spring. Five returning players highlight the Tigers' seven-player roster. Sophomore Jackie Drozd, who posted a team-high four singles wins last season, returns along with senior Kirsten Auble. Auble led the Tigers with six doubles victories a season ago. The Tigers closed the 2020-21 season by winning three of their final five matches, and Tuesday's meeting with Daemen is their first dual match since a 6-3 win over Ithaca on May 1. The Tigers opened the 2021-22 season this past weekend by participating in the Mary Hosking Invitational hosted by William Smith College.

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. RIT
Series Record: RIT 2-1
At Daemen: Tied 1-1
Last Meeting: RIT 7, Daemen 2 | March 5, 2018 | at Rochester, N.Y.

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