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Match Recap: Women's Tennis | | CONTACT: Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for External Operations & Communications | (716) 839-8385 | mmiranto@daemen.edu

Successful Season Opener For Wildcat Women's Tennis

Daemen Downs RIT In Tight 4-3 Affair

WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. - It was a successful beginning to the 2021-22 season for the Daemen women's team and first-year head coach Richard Greco, Jr. as the Wildcats out-clawed the visiting RIT Tigers by a 4-3 final in non-conference action this afternoon at the Williamsville South High School courts. 

Greco, Jr., who was appointed to the position earlier this summer, guided the Wildcats to the victory in his debut match, riding multiple point efforts from sophomore Frida Rubio (San Diego, Calif.), graduate student Christina Stasiuk (Bowmansville, N.Y.) and freshman Kitsa Scime (Williamsville, N.Y.). It's the second straight season that the Wildcats have gotten off to a 1-0 start. 

It also marked RIT's first dual match of the season as the Tigers dropped to 0-1. RIT, a member of NCAA Division III and the Liberty League, had opened the season this past weekend by participating in the Mary Hosking Invitational hosted by William Smith College.

DOUBLES REPORT: Wildcats Take The Point
Daemen opened up a 1-0 lead in the match after taking two of the three doubles matches. Rubio and Stasiuk, who posted a 5-3 doubles record together last season, were paired once again at the top of Daemen's lineup. They wasted little time in dispatching RIT's Jackie Drozd and Gabby Donohue, winning 6-0. But, the Tigers evened things up and gave themselves a chance to steal the doubles point after Kirsten Auble and Julia Smolowitz earned their own 6-0 win in the No. 3 doubles position.

With their teammates looking on, Scime and junior Mackenzie Schayes (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) came through with a 6-2 win in the No. 2 doubles position, securing the point for the hosts.

SINGLES REPORT: Wildcats Get The Three They Needed
With the Wildcats leading the match 1-0, they needed only to split the six singles matches to walk away with the overall dual match victory, and that's exactly what transpired.

Rubio, the reigning ECC Rookie of the Year, bested Drozd by a 6-1, 6-3 final in the No. 1 singles position. Scime made it a double-win day for herself as she took down Donohue in the No. 3 singles position in straight sets (6-2, 6-1).

Mackenzie Wade (No. 4 singles: 6-2, 6-1) and Abby Murray (No. 5 singles: 6-0, 6-1) scoring wins for the Tigers, the result was left in the balance. Stasiuk delivered a 6-3, 6-4 win in the No. 2 position, clinching the overall victory for the Wildcats. It marked the 40th singles win of her career, becoming just the fourth player in team history to reach that total. 

Smolowitz posted a 6-0, 6-0 win for RIT in the No. 6 singles position to close out the scoring. 

MATCH NOTES
  • With two victories today, Stasiuk now has 69 combined singles/doubles wins in her career. She remains in fourth place on Daemen's all-time wins list, now three shy of Jessica Robins (72) for third place.
  • Daemen has now won six straight and 16 of their last 18 contests against NCAA Division III opponents. The Wildcats are now 31-14 all-time against Division III opponents. Half of their losses came in the program's inaugural season.
  • Today's win evened the all-time series with RIT at two wins apiece and snaps the Tigers' two-match series winning streak. RIT's 7-2 win on March 5, 2018 remains Daemen's last loss against a Division III opponent.
  • Greco, Jr. is the third Daemen coach to win his debut match. Stephen Beatty won his debut - a 7-2 final over Dowling to start the 2013-14 season; to start his only season with the program, Jesse Plote led the Wildcats to a 7-0 win over D'Youville last March. 
  • The 2021-22 season marks the 10th in Daemen's program history.
  • The Wildcats return five players from their 2020-21 team that posted a 5-5 overall record and a 3-2 record in East Coast Conference play. It marked the program's first season with an overall winning percentage of .500 or better, and the first time that the team qualified for the ECC Championships. 
  • Daemen was picked fourth out of six teams in the ECC preseason coaches' poll released late last month. 

NEXT SERVE
Daemen hosts fellow Division II member Walsh in a 10 a.m. match this Saturday, September 11. 

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 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.

Follow the Daemen College women's tennis program on Twitter and Facebook at @DaemenTennis. 


 
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