By: Noah Dombroski, Contributing Writer
Each of Saint Leo Women’s Athletic programs have already shown great promise with their performances thus far in the 2019-2020 school year. Here is a quick recap of what your Lady Lions are up to.
The Saint Leo Volleyball team is about halfway done with their season and stand at a record of 12 wins and 5 losses. Last year they finished with a record of 17-15, which is respectable, but the new head coach, Jason Skoch, is surely looking to get that record further above the .500 clip this season. Key victories so far this season include three-set sweeps of conference rivals Florida Southern, Lynn, and Nova Southeastern.
The Lions are 6-3 against teams in the Sunshine State Conference (SSC). The team has 14 matches remaining in the season, with their next ones being this Friday, October 18, at 12:15pm and 5:45pm. Anilise Fitzi, a senior middle blocker from New Zealand, is having a fantastic year and currently leads the team in blocks (75), kills (182), and service aces (21). Sophomore defensive specialist Payton Bellano leads the squad in digs with 283, and junior setter Anna Garrett is the current leader in assists with 662. Junior outside hitter Ashley Quero is in the top five on the team in all five major statistical categories.
The Women’s Golf Team has just started their season and are off to a very promising start.
The Saint Leo Women’s Soccer team, while coming off a two-game losing streak, stands at a respectable 5-5-1 record, and also hold a 2-2 record in the SSC. After finishing just 3-10-2 last season, there has clearly been improvement to the squad’s performance. Sophomore midfielder Carolina Solis-Deleon currently leads the team in shots (21), shots on goal (11), points (8), and goals scored (4).
Junior defender Briana Yamamoto remains first in assists with 3, and senior defender Rebecca Anderson spends the most time on the field (currently at 1010 minutes) and is second in assists for her teammates with 2. Senior goalkeeper Julia Ortiz holds a personal record thus far of 3-5-1 with a 76% save percentage. The team plays at home this Saturday, October 19 at 7:00pm against Florida Tech, one of their final 6 remaining games.
The Women’s Cross-Country team wrapped up their four-meet season last Friday when they placed 19th out of 63 teams at the Royals XC Challenge. Senior Ashley Lindeman led her runners with a 5k time of 18:42, putting her 60th out of 551 total racers.
The team’s previous meets include a 1st place finish out of 7 teams at the Florida Tech Invitational, a 10th place finish out of 35 teams at the Mountain Dew Invitational, and a 3rd place finish out of 8 teams at the FLRunners Invitational. On Saturday, October 26, the squad will head to Boca Raton to take part in the Sunshine State Conference Championships. Last season, the Lions placed 3rd out of the 9 conference teams, earning them a trip to the NCAA South Region Championship where they placed 6th out of 18 teams. With momentum on their side, they surely hope to top that performance this year and end the season on a very high note.
Each of Saint Leo Women’s Athletic programs have already shown great promise this school year.
The Women’s Golf Team has just started their season and are off to a very promising start. So far, the Green and Gold have placed 1st and 3rd out of 15 teams at the UIndy Invitational, then 10th and 7th out of 13 teams at the Bubba Burger Jacksonville Classic, and last Monday and Tuesday placed 3rd and 1st out of 12 teams at the Golfweek Fall Invite. At the Golfweek Invitational, Saint Leo Junior Francesca Santoni placed first out of all contestants, gaining the first win of her collegiate career. Santoni would be named Sunshine State Conference Golfer of the Week for her efforts. After the team plays their home tournament on October 14th and 15th, they will head to Orlando to compete in the Rollins Legends Invitational on October 28th and 29th.
The Women’s Tennis program has already partaken in four tournaments this year and has performed with excellence thus far. In their first tournament of the season, Kristyna Jurkova and Nasasia Jedrychowski won the #2 doubles bracket, while Kortney McHale and Ashley Griffith (both freshmen) came first in #3 doubles. Last week the squad defeated all three of their double’s opponents in the Hidden Duals Tournament. The program currently boasts a 107-45 combined singles record.
The Women’s Swim team begins their season in just four days on October 19. Similarly, it is less than a month until the Women’s Basketball team suits up for the first time on November 2. Make sure to keep an eye out for the exciting starts to these upcoming seasons.
