Women's Tennis Resumes Season At Mercyhurst Saturday

2/17/2023 11:56:00 AM

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

Match #11
Daemen Wildcats (3-7) vs. Mercyhurst Lakers (1-1)
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 18
TIME: 6 p.m.
LOCATION: Erie, Pa. | Westwood Racquet Club

BACK IN ACTION
The Daemen women's tennis team resumes its 2022-23 season Saturday with a match at Mercyhurst University. It will mark the first action for Daemen since the Wildcats suffered a loss to top-seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in the semifinals of the 2022 East Coast Conference Championship tournament. The Wildcats were making their third-straight appearance in the ECC Tournament.

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 in 2021-22. 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 20-18 in singles play over her career and already ranks seventh in both combined singles and doubles wins (39) and total singles wins (20) 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 9-4 singles record this season. She has moved into the Top-10 in career singles victories among Daemen's all-time leaders with 17. Senior Ailish McDevitt (Jamesville, N.Y.) and sophomore Yinett Del Leon (Cape Coral, Fla.) are also back. Del Leon owns a 4-8 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 four of her last seven singles matches and stands at 5-8 in singles play on the year.

SCIME EARNS ALL-ECC HONORS
Sophomore Kitsa Scime (Williamsville, N.Y.) was named to the All-East Coast Conference Second Team this past fall. The official announcement of All-ECC teams was made in a press release from the conference's headquarters on Long Island. It marks the first all-conference accolade for Scime. She joins current teammate Frida Rubio (San Diego, Calif.) and former standouts Christina Stasiuk and Karli Hollins as the only players in program history to garner All-ECC recognition. Rubio earned the nod in 2020-21 when she was also named the ECC Rookie of the Year. Stasiuk was a second team selection last year. Playing primarily in the No. 2 position of the Wildcats singles lineup, Scime notched a team-high nine singles victories this fall. She added five doubles wins as well, four of which came while paired with Rubio in the No. 1 position of Daemen's lineup. Scime went 8-9 in singles play last year as a freshman and has posted a 17-13 singles record over her two-year career. She is 13-5 in her last 18 singles matches dating back to the end of last season. She ranks eighth in both career singles wins (17) and combined singles and doubles wins (29) among Daemen's all-time leaders.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen returns to action Feb. 26 when it heads to Edinboro (Pa.) Univewrsity for a match.

SCOUTING THE LAKERS
Mercyhurst is a NCAA Division II affiliate and a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC). Mercyhurst returns six players from last year's team that went 9-13 overall and 4-2 in PSAC play. The Lakers earned an at-large bid to 2022 NCAA Division II Tournament and suffered a 4-1 loss to West Virginia State in the opening round. The Lakers played their first dual matches of the 2022-23 season last weekend. They posted a 5-2 win over Salem University and suffered a 7-0 loss to St. Bonaventure. Sophomore Kayla Dean was named the PSAC Rookie of the Year and first team All-PSAC last year after going 18-9 overall and 7-0 in conference play as a rookie. Senior Nadja Ostojic earned second team All-PSAC honors last year.

ALL-TIME SERIES: DAEMEN VS. MERCYHURST
Series Record: MU, 3-0
At Daemen: 0-0
At MU: MU, 3-0
Last Meeting: Mercyhurst 6, Daemen 1 | Feb. 16, 2020 | at Erie, Pa.

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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