Women's Tennis Closes Out Regular Season At Home This Weekend

Wildcats Host Queens Friday And St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday

10/19/2023 2:26:00 PM

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

AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen women's tennis team will its final two fall regular-season matches this weekend. The Wildcats will host Queens College on Friday (Oct. 20) and St. Thomas Aquinas College Saturday (Oct. 21) in East Coast Conference matches. Queens sits atop the ECC standings, while STAC is in second place. Daemen can secure a spot in the upcoming four-team ECC Tournament with a victory this weekend, or a D'Youville loss. D'Youville hosts STAC Friday and Queens Saturday. The Wildcats are looking to make their fourth-straight appearance in the ECC Tournament.

THE WILDCATS (5-4, 2-1 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, but rebounded with a 9-0 win over SUNY Fredonia. The Wildcats posted a big 5-2 win at Molloy last weekend are coming off a loss to Division I Le Moyne. 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 5-7 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 10-3 in singles play this year and recorded her 33rd career singles win during the win over Molloy. She is now 28-10 in her last 38 singles matches dating back to the end of her freshman season. Junior Yinett Del Leon (Cape Coral, Fla.) is 5-8 in singles play this year, while sophomore Carly Armitage (Rochester, N.Y.) is 5-5. Freshman Maya Chon (Wichita, Kan.) picked up her first career singles win during the season-opening Allegheny Invitational over Labor Day Weekend and is 4-5 in singles play thus far. Junior transfer Emily Jablonski (Alden, N.Y.) is 3-7 in singles play.

SENIOR NIGHT
Senior Frida Rubio will be honored prior to the start of Saturday's match. She is a four-year member of the program and earned ECC Rookie of the Year and All-ECC honors in 2021-22.

THE KNIGHTS (5-0, 3-0 ECC)
Queens remained undefeated on the year following a 7-0 win over District of Columbia last weekend. The Knights went 11-8 overall (3-2 ECC) last year and lost to STAC in the championship match of the ECC Tournament. They were voted second in the 2023-24 ECC preseason coaches' poll. All-conference selections Maja Makai, the 2023 ECC Preseason Co-Player of the Year, and Caroline Hany-Fawzy both return.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday's match will mark the 11th all-time meeting between the two schools. Queens has prevailed in each of the previous 10 meetings.

THE SPARTANS (5-1, 2-1 NEC)
STAC improved to 5-1 on the year following a 7-0 win over Post on Wednesday. The Spartans went 18-4 overall (5-0 ECC), claimed their first-ever ECC Tournament title and advanced to the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Division II Tournament last year. They were voted first in the 2023-24 ECC preseason coaches' poll. All-conference selections Ebba Rosberg, the 2023 ECC Preseason Co-Player of the Year, Elita Silins and Samanta Robles all return.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's match will mark the 13th all-time meeting between Daemen and STAC. The Spartans have prevailed in all of the previous 12 meetings, including a 4-0 win in the opening round of the ECC Tournament last year.

UP NEXT
If Daemen earns a spot in the ECC Tournament it will take place Oct. 27-28 at Queens College in Flushing, 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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