Women's Tennis Faces Cross-Town Rival D'Youville Saturday

10/7/2022 10:25:00 AM

By: CONTACT: Tom McDermott, Director of Athletics Communications | tmcdermo@daemen.edu

Match #6
Daemen Wildcats (1-4, 0-2 ECC) vs. D'Youville Saints (1-4, 0-2 ECC)
DATE: Saturday, Oct. 8
TIME: 4 p.m.
LOCATION: Williamsville, N.Y. | Village Glen Tennis Club

BACK IN ACTION
The Daemen women's tennis team returns to East Coast Conference play when it takes on cross-town rival D'Youville Saturday afternoon.

LAST TIME OUT
Daemen posted a 6-1 victory over SUNY Fredonia last Saturday in a non-league match played at Williamsville North High School. It marked the 2022-23 home opener for Daemen, which picked up its first win of the year and improved to 1-4 overall. Daemen swept all three doubles matches to earn the one point as per NCAA Division II scoring. The Daemen tandem of junior Frida Rubio (San Diego, Calif.) and sophomore Kitsa Scime (Williamsville, N.Y.) improved to 2-1 in doubles play this year following a 6-0 win over Gabby Gance and Violet Hess at No. 1 doubles. Sophomore Yinett Del Leon (Cape Coral, Fla.) and freshman Carly Armitage (Rochester, N.Y.) also posted a 6-0 score over Sierra Allen and Jordan Koelemeyer at No. w doubles, while senior Mackenzie Schayes (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and freshman Dania Mehani(Amherst, N.Y.) outlasted Elizabeth Houser and Kexu Hawley, 6-4, at No. 3 doubles. Daemen secured the win by winning five of the six singles matches, surrendering just four points over the five wins. Rubio defeated Gance at No. 1 (6-0, 6-1), Scime downed Hess at No. 2 (6-0, 6-0), Del Leon defeated Bella Surma at No. 3 (6-1, 6-0), Armitage defeated Caitlin Snyder at No. 4 (6-0, 6-0) and Schayes took down Brianna Gentile at No. 5 (6-1, 6-1). Scime improved to 6-3 in singles play this year following her win today, while Rubio now stands just one win shy of becoming just the seventh player in program history to post 20 career singles wins.

BACK AT THE HELM
Second-year head coach Richard Greco, Jr. returns after leading the Wildcats to their second-straight appearance in the ECC Tournament last fall. The Wildcats finished with a 7-10 overall record and a 2-3 mark in ECC play last year. The seven wins were the most in a season for Daemen since posting 10 wins in 2017-18.

RETURNING VETERANS
The Wildcat returners are headlined by junior Frida Rubio (San Diego, Calif.). Rubio, who earned ECC Rookie of the Year and all-conference honors two years ago, posted a 10-9 mark at No. 1 singles last year and a 9-9 record in doubles play. Rubio has gone 19-15 in singles play over her career and already ranks seventh in both combined singles and doubles wins (36) and total singles wins (19) among the program's all-time leaders. Senior Mackenzie Schayes (Honeoye Falls, N.Y.) and sophomore Kitsa Scime (Williamsville, N.Y.), who posted a combined 13 singles and 10 doubles wins last year, also return to the lineup. Scime won her first four singles matches this year and owns a team best 6-3 singles record this season. She has moved into the Top-10 in career singles victories among Daemen's all-time leaders with 14. Senior Ailish McDevitt (Jamesville, N.Y.) and sophomore Yinett Del Leon (Cape Coral, Fla.) are also back. Del Leon owns a 3-5 singles record this season.

FRESH FACES
The team welcomes freshmen Carly Armitage (Rochester, N.Y.) and Dania Mehani (Amherst, N.Y.) to the lineup. Armitage has won two of her last three singles matches and stands at 3-6 in singles play on the year.

POLL POSITION
Daemen has been picked fourth in the 2022-23 East Coast Conference Women's Tennis Preseason Coaches' Poll. Daemen earned 16 points in the poll voting, edging Molloy University (13 points) and D'Youville University (seven points) for a spot among the league's top four teams heading into the 2022-23 season. The University of the District of Columbia, which went unbeaten in league play and claimed its first ECC Tournament championship since 2011 last year, received five of the six first-place votes and totaled 35 points to top the poll. St. Thomas Aquinas College (28 pts) collected the other first-pace vote and edged out Queens College (27 pts) for second place.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen is idle until Friday (Oct. 14) when it hosts the University of District of Columbia in an ECC match.

SCOUTING THE SAINTS
D'Youville opened the 2022-23 season with back-to-back non-league losses to Edinboro (6-1) and Post (6-1), before opening ECC play with losses to St. Thomas Aquinas (7-0) and Queens (7-0). The Saints are coming off a non-league win over Fredonia (5-2) last weekend. Sophomore Yuliia Kashtelian, junior Khushi Agarwal, freshman Paola Ermina and junior Taylor-Anne Austin all picked up singles wins against Fredonia.

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. D'YOUVILLE
Series Record: Daemen, 7-0
At Daemen: Daemen, 4-0
At D'Youville: Daemen, 3-0
Last Meeting: Daemen 7, D'Youville 0 | April 10, 2022 | at Williamsville, N.Y.

Daemen University 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.

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