CAMDEN, N.J. (Nov. 16, 2016) – The Rutgers University-Camden women's tennis team featured two of the top freshmen in the New Jersey Athletic Conference this season.
One of them,
Danielle Lemma (Haddon Township, NJ/Haddon Township), ended up capturing the NJAC's Rookie of the Year honor when the all-conference team was announced today. Lemma becomes the second NJAC Women's Tennis Rookie of the Year in school history. She follows in the footsteps of
Amanda Hickman (Millville, NJ/Millville), who won the honor in 2012 and went on to become the program's all-time leader in singles, doubles and overall wins.
Lemma, who played mainly at second singles, posted the best singles mark on the team this season with a 7-3 record. She went 4-2 at second singles and 3-1 at third singles. In doubles, she posted a 4-6 record, including a 4-5 mark teaming with the Scarlet Raptors' other stellar freshman,
Annalise Kipp (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford), at first doubles. Lemma also paired with sophomore
Ashley Flores (Camden, NJ/Moorestown Friends) once, posting a 0-1 mark at second doubles.
Both Lemma and Kipp, the Raptors No. 1 singles player, captured two honors apiece as the NJAC Rookie of the Week. Lemma earned the honor on Sept. 19 and Oct. 3, while Kipp captured rookie honors on Oct. 17 and Oct. 31.
In NJAC competition, Lemma posted a 4-2 record in singles (3-1 second singles and 1-1 at third singles) and a 2-4 mark in doubles (2-3 first doubles, 0-1 second doubles).
After dropping her first two collegiate matches, Lemma collected her first win on Sept. 17 with a 2-6, 6-2, 10-6 comeback victory at third singles against NJAC foe Stockton University. She posted another NJAC win on Sept. 24, this time at second singles, with a 6-4, 7-6 win at Ramapo College. She followed with second singles wins at Lycoming College Oct. 1 (6-0, 6-4) and at NJAC rival William Paterson University Oct. 2 (6-1, 6-3) to run her singles winning streak to four.
Following a narrow (1-6, 7-5, 7-10) loss at Rutgers-Newark on Oct. 9, Lemma captured her last three singles matches of the year, including third singles victories at Cedar Crest College Oct. 15 (6-1, 6-1) and at Penn State-Brandywine (6-1, 6-2). She closed the season with a 6-0, 6-1 win at second singles in a NJAC match against Kean University Oct. 30.
In doubles play, after losing the first six doubles matches of her collegiate career, including five with Kipp at the No. 1 spot, the Raptors' freshman duo swept their last four matches at first doubles. They earned their first doubles win at Rutgers-Newark Oct. 9 (8-5) and followed with an 8-5 win at Cedar Crest College Oct. 15. The next day at Penn State-Brandywine they posted an 8-0 win at first doubles. They closed the season with an 8-2 victory over Kean University on Oct. 30.
During her scholastic career at Haddon Township High School, Lemma was a two-time All-Colonial Conference Second Team honoree. She also set a single-season program victory record with a 26-4 mark.
All-NJAC Women's Tennis Team and release
