Geoff Schneider

Women's Tennis Travels To Molloy For ECC Match Friday; Hosts Le Moyne Sunday

10/12/2023 2:11:00 PM

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

AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen women's tennis team will play two matches this weekend. The Wildcats head to Long Island, N.Y. for an East Coast Conference match against Molloy University Friday and host Le Moyne College in a non-conference match Sunday night at Miller Tennis Center. A Daemen victory Friday night would be a big step towards securing a spot in the upcoming four-team ECC Championship tournament. The Wildcats are looking to make their fourth-straight appearance in the ECC Tournament.

THE WILDCATS (4-3, 1-1 ECC)
Daemen opened dual match play back on Sept. 9-10 with back-to-back wins over St. John Fisher University (8-1) and William Smith College (5-4), and remained unbeaten after opening ECC play with a 7-0 win over D'Youville. The Wildcats suffered their first loss of the year following a 5-2 setback at Millersville, bute rebounded with a 9-0 win over SUNY Fredonia. The Wildcats are coming off back-to-back losses to Division I Niagara (6-1) and ECC foe District of Columbia (5-2). Head coach Richard Greco, Jr. returns five players from last year's team and the 2023-24 roster features four newcomers (two transfers, two freshmen). Senior Frida Rubio (San Diego, Calif.) and Kitsa Scime (Williamsville, N.Y.) top the list of returning players. Rubio enters her fourth season with the program this fall. The ECC Rookie of the Year and second team All-ECC pick as a freshman in 2021-22, she is 5-5 in singles play so far this season and recorded her 29th career singles win during the win over Fredonia. Scime enjoyed an outstanding second season with the program last year. Playing primarily No. 2 singles throughout the year, she went 15-6 in singles play. Her 15 wins last year rank as the second most in a single season in program history, behind only Christina Stasiuk who posted 18 wins during the 2017-18 season. A second-team All-ECC pick and team MVP last year, Scime is 9-2 in singles play this year and recorded her 32nd career singles win during the loss to UDC. She is now 27-9 in her last 36 singles matches dating back to the end of her freshman season. Junior Yinett Del Leon (Cape Coral, Fla.) is 4-7 in singles play this year, while sophomore Carly Armitage (Rochester, N.Y.) is 4-4. Freshman Maya Chon (Wichita, Kan.) picked up her first career singles win during the season-opening Allegheny Invitational over Labor Day Weekend and is 3-4 in singles play thus far. Junior transfer Emily Jablonski (Alden, N.Y.) is 3-6 in singles play.

THE LIONS (0-5, 0-2 ECC)
Molloy remained winless on the year after opening ECC play with losses to St. Thomas Aquinas (7-0) and Queens (7-0) last weekend. The Lions went 1-8 overall (1-4 ECC) last year and were voted fifth in the 2023-23 ECC preseason coaches' poll. Senior Camilla Cabalerro Abreu returns after posting a team-best 3-4 record in singles play last year.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday's match will mark the 11th all-time meeting between the two schools. Daemen has prevailed in six of the last eight meetings and the Wildcats own a 6-4 advantage in the series. Daemen posted a 5-2 win over the Lions last year at Miller Tennis Center.

THE DOLPHINS (1-1, 1-0 NEC)
Le Moyne is in its first season transitioning from NCAA Division II to Division I. They are a member of the Northeast Conference. The Dolphins opened conference play with a 5-2 win over Binghamton back on Sept. 17, before suffering a non-conference 4-3 loss at Niagara on Oct. 1. The Dolphins went 10-7 (5-3 NE-10) in their final season in Division II last year. Six players return from last year's team including all-conference selections Paula Casares, Fiona Pepper and Alicia Alvarez. Casares went 13-2 in singles play last year as a freshman, while Pepper went 15-2.

SERIES HISTORY
Sunday's match will mark the ninth all-time meeting between Daemen and Le Moyne. The Dolphins have prevailed in all of the previous eight meetings, including a 6-1 victory last year in Syracuse, N.Y.

UP NEXT
Daemen closes out the regular-season next weekend when the Wildcats play host to Queens College (Oct. 20) and Saint Thomas Aquinas College (Oct. 21) in ECC matches.

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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