Lions Ledger: Saint Leo Athletics Enters Busy March Weekend

Mar 18, 2021

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RECORDS: Saint Leo 3-1 | Tampa 5-5 | Palm Beach Atlantic 4-2
Saint Leo beach volleyball will travel to Tampa for a tri-match with the Spartans and Palm Beach Atlantic on Friday.
The Lions moved to 3-1 on the season with a split against Webber and Palm Beach Atlantic in Babson Park, Fla. in their last outing. Saint Leo defeated Webber 4-1 before falling to PBA 3-2.
The Lions' number one pair of Brooke Turner and Nina Vattovaz are 3-1 on the year while the number two duo of juniors Sydney Omtvedt and Arlaina Stephenson are a perfect 4-0. The Lions are also 4-0 at the number three position with junior Lina Russo going 2-0 with a pair of partners. Joining her at 2-0 are freshman Ally-Reese Williams and freshman LeeAnn Potter.
Saint Leo will face off against Tampa for the first time since 2019 when the two teams met three times with the Spartans taking all three wins including at the AVCA Small College Beach Championships. The Lions are 0-1 against PBA this season and went 0-2 last season including a 3-2 loss on the road and a 4-1 loss at home on March 12 which proved to be the final match of the 2020 COVID-19 shortened season.
Tampa has already seen action in 10 matches this season including four against top-20 ranked opponents. The Spartans boast a win over NCAA Division I program Mercer. After dropping their first four matches of the year to nationally-ranked opponents the Spartans have won five of their last six matches including four-straight 5-0 sweeps to foes including Eckerd, Jacksonville (NCAA DI) and Florida Southern (2x). They have a pair of 4-0 pairs including at number two (Melissa Elias/Valerie Rosequist) and number three (Tatianna Gutierrez/Katie McKiel).
Palm Beach Atlantic is 4-2 this season with wins over Florida Southern (2x), Saint Leo and Webber. The two loses for the Sailfish came to 13th-ranked Florida International and NCAA Division I member Florida Gulf Coast. The Sailfish are led by their No. 1 pair Lunden Evans and Jazz Schmidt who picked up a win against FGCU.

RECORDS Saint Leo 6-2, 5-1 SSC | PBA 5-3, 4-2 SSC
No. 11 Saint Leo looks to host Palm Beach Atlantic after going 3-1 against Florida Southern last weekend. The Lions swept the home doubleheader and split the road trip to Lakeland.
After going 6-for-12 for the series, Kacie Kelly was named the SSC Player of the Week while driving in three runs and scoring once with one double and one triple to her credit.
On the year, Morgan Shannon is leading the team by a slim margin over Kelly in batting average with a .444 average to Kelly's .423. Kelly leads the team in hits (11), doubles (2) and triples (1).
From the circle, Kayla Betts is the team leader in ERA (0.81), WHIP (.62), record (4-0), complete games (2), innings pitched (26), strikeouts (32), and opponent batting average (.111). Shannon is second on the team in ERA (0.82) while she is next in innings pitched (17) and strikeouts (16).
Palm Beach Atlantic enters the series after posting a 3-1 record against Tampa last weekend where the Sailfish won the opening three games and dropped the series finale.
Through eight games, Meredith Milam is the team leader in average at .520 with 13 hits.
Abbey Busby is the leader on the pitching staff with most innings tossed (29.1), ERA (0.24), WHIP (.78), record (4-0), strikeouts (19), and opponent batting average (.184). Cambria Arturo is second on the team in innings of work (18.2) while she is the only other Sailfish pitcher to be a pitcher of record standing at 1-3 in her four games of action.
HISTORY A tight history between the two teams has the record at 19-18 in favor of the Lions. Saint Leo took two of three a year ago at University Softball Stadium, dropping game one 6-2 before bouncing back for 2-1 and 5-2 victories. In the 2-1 win on Leap Day a year ago, Emily Pilon was the hero as she blasted a two-run jack in the third inning as the Lions held off the Sailfish to even the series 1-1. In the rubber match, after trailing 1-0, Saint Leo rallied in the bottom of the first plating three runs before scoring the final two runs in the third inning off a Maddy Lynn single to right field as the Green and Gold went on for the series win, two games to one.

RECORDS: Saint Leo 1-2, 0-1 SSC | Palm Beach Atlantic 0-6, 0-6 SSC
Saint Leo baseball returns to the diamond to face Palm Beach Atlantic in a three-game conference series beginning Thursday night in West Palm Beach before concluding at Saint Leo on Saturday with a doubleheader.
The Lions opened the season on Feb. 27 with a non-conference doubleheader with second-ranked Tampa where the two teams split with the Spartans taking game one 10-5 and the Lions winning the scheduled seven-inning game two 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. Saint Leo suffered a 12-3 loss versus Barry the following Thursday, March 4 before COVID-19 safety protocols put a halt to the next six scheduled games.
Redshirt junior Adrien Roa continues to lead the Lions in batting average at .375 while junior Eddie Niemann III leads the team in RBI with four. Eight Lions have driven in at least one run this season over the opening three contests. Four Lions have connected on home runs while graduate student Amir Wright leads the team in doubles with a pair.
Redshirt junior Devin Blair holds the lone win on the Lions pitching staff. Redshirt senior Jeremy Peel leads the squad with five strikeouts over a team-leading 6.2 innings pitched. Graduate student Joey Antonopoulos, junior Jestin Jones and redshirt senior Jimmy Burnette have been the three Lion starters so far this season on the mound.
Palm Beach Atlantic has gone 0-6 this season with a three-game setback against Florida Southern and a three game sweep at the hands of the Spartans from the University of Tampa. Robert Fabelo leads the offense with a .267 batting average. A pair of Sailfish hold the team lead in RBI with two while Brandon Seltzer leads the team with two doubles. Christian Denton, Joey Hennessey and Troy Klemm have been the Sailfish starters so far this season on the mound. Denton and Hennessey share the team lead with nine strikeouts but Hennessey has done it in three fewer innings. Denton leads the team with 10.1 innings pitched.
HISTORY: Saint Leo missed out on playing the Sailfish in 2020 due to the pandemic but took two of three from Palm Beach Atlantic in 2019 at home after sweeping PBA on the road in 2018.

Saint Leo men's and women's track heads back to Daytona Beach to compete in the Blue and Gold Invite hosted by Embry-Riddle. Events are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with the women's 5,000m while the final event is slated for a 2:50 p.m. start and it's the men's 4x400m.
Senior Shane Bracken of the men's team put up a very strong NCAA Provisional Qualifying time in the 800m at 1:50.15 which also proved to be a school record. His time currently ranks second in NCAA Division II this season. His 1,500m time from the opening meet at Embry-Riddle also still ranks as the fastest 1,500m time this season in NCAA Division II at 3:51.19. Newcomer Lucas Liard was the lone male Lion to claim a victory at Tampa as he won the 1,500m.
Junior Aoife Mahony leads the women as she posted the ninth fastest 800m time this season in NCAA Division II last weekend at Tampa at 2:20.27. Redshirt sophomore Skyelar Aguilar and sophomore Robyn Burrows each picked up victories at Tampa as well.
Saturday is the second of three scheduled trips to Daytona Beach for the Lions this season. Currently the meet on Tuesday, April 27 at Embry-Riddle is the final on the Saint Leo regular season schedule.

RECORDS No. 3 Saint Leo 1-0, 1-0 SSC | No. 12 Florida Southern 2-0, 2-0 SSC
The No. 3 Saint Leo Lions started the season with a clean sweep against Eckerd on Tuesday.
In doubles action, the Lions whipped up a confident 6-1 first doubles result by Willem Van Den Akker and Aurel Ciocanu, a clean sheet by second doubles partners Alexander Parker and Christopher Traut, and finally a 6-4 third doubles decision by Bruno Faletto and Nicolas Bacella.
Faletto, Bacella, Ciocanu, and Parker each won their singles matches. Meanwhile, Ghali Mensour won his fifth singles match (6-0, 6-1) while Jesse Wikso also took care of his match at the six spot (6-3, 6-0).
The No. 12 Florida Southern Moccasins defeated Eckerd (5-2) and Palm Beach Atlantic (5-2) for their strong start.
HISTORY The teams last meet back in 2019 season due to COVID-19 cutting the 2020 season short. The then No. 6 Lions handled the Mocs 5-2 in Lakeland, Fla. The Lions took the doubles match point, winning all three pairs with a score of 6-1, 7-5, and 7-6. Faletto, Mensour, Ciocanu, and David Perez each won their singles matches for the team's five match points.

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