Geoff Schneider

Women's Tennis Plays Road Matches At UDC and Lafayette This Weekend

10/5/2023 10:54:00 AM

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

AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Daemen women's tennis team will play two road matches this weekend. The Wildcats return to East Coast Conference play on Friday with a match at the University of the District of Columbia and play a non-league match at Division I Lafayette College on Saturday.

THE WILDCATS
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 and split their two matches last week--defeating Fredonia State (9-0) and losing to Division I Niagara (1-6). 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 5-4 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 8-2 in singles play this year and recorded her 31st career singles win during the loss to Niagara. She is now 26-9 in her last 35 singles matches dating back to the end of her freshman season. Junior Yinett Del Leon (Cape Coral, Fla.) is 4-6 in singles play this year, while sophomore Carly Armitage (Rochester, N.Y.) is 4-3. Freshman Maya Chon (Wichita, Kan.) picked up her first career singles win during the season-opening Allegheny Invitational over Labor Day Weekend and is 3-3 in singles play thus far. Junior transfer Emily Jablonski (Alden, N.Y.) has won three of her last six singles matches.

MORE CONFERENCE HONORS FOR SCIME
Junior Kitsa Scime (Williamsville, N.Y.) has been honored by the ECC for her outstanding play last week. Scime was named the ECC Co-Player of the Week, marking the second-straight week and third time this season she has earned the honor. The announcement of award winners was made via the league's weekly sport report.

THE FIREBIRDS
UDC returns five players from last year's team that went 13-7 (4-1 ECC), lost in the semifinals of the ECC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament. The Firebirds were picked third in the ECC preseason coaches' poll and stand at 2-0 (0-0 ECC) on the year following wins over Jefferson (4-3) and Frostburg State (5-2). Sophomore Célia Bastin returns after earning first team All-ECC and ECC Rookie of the Year honors last year. Junior Laura Marie also earned first team All-ECC honors a year ago.

SERIES HISTORY
Friday's match will mark the 11th all-time meeting between the two schools. UDC has prevailed in each of the previous 10 meetings, including a 6-1 decision at Miller Tennis Center last year.

THE LEOPARDS
Lafayette is a NCAA Division I member of the Patriot League. Saturday's match will be the 2023-24 season opener for the Leopards. Lafayette went 6-13 overall (1-5 Patriot League) and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Patriot League Tournament last year.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's match will mark the first ever meeting between Daemen and Lafayette.

UP NEXT
Daemen travels to Allegheny College for a non-league match Wednesday (Oct. 11).

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.

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

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