Tennis Tripped Up at St. John's, 6-1

QUEENS, N.Y. - The Seton Hall tennis team dropped its third straight match on Sunday, falling 6-1 to local rival St. John's in their first BIG EAST road match of the season.

Despite the loss, Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) and Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) continued to prove themselves a force to be reckoned with in the top doubles position, cruising past the STJ team of Diamond Adams and Nevena Selakovic, 8-3.

The win marked the ninth straight doubles victory for the pair of sophomores and brings their win total as a team to 22 in less than two full years of action.

Portela and Sher are now tied with the team of Catalina Isaza and Lorell Zamot for the most wins by any SHU doubles team since 2001.

Isaza and Zamot posted 22 victory while playing together from 2003-05.

Freshman Maria Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia) recorded the squad's only point of the day by virtue of her 6-3, 6-1 defeat of St. John's junior Terri Thomas in the number six singles position. 

Rodriguez leads the team with 11 dual-match singles victories on the year and is tied with Sher for the team lead in singles victories in all competition with 15.

The Pirates (5-11,1-3)  face another road test on Friday, April 6 when they travel to the nation's capital to take on the Georgetown Hoyas. Start-time is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.

Seton Hall 1, St. John's 6

Singles
1. Nevena Selakovic (STJ) def. Chloe Sher (SHU), 6-2, 6-2
2. Diamond Adams (STJ) def. Rocio Portela (SHU), 6-1, 7-5
3. Joanna Zwirbulis (STJ) def. Elizabeth Verow (SHU), 6-1, 6-4
4. Nakita Austin (STJ) def. Karina Cordero (SHU), 6-2, 6-2
5. Ece Firat (STJ) def. Madison Shoemaker (SHU), 6-3, 6-1
6. Maria Rodriguez (SHU) def. Terri Thomas (STJ), 6-3, 6-1

Doubles
1. Portela/Sher (SHU) def. Adams/Selakovic (STJ), 8-3
2. Firat/Zwirbulis (STJ) def. Shoemaker/Verow (SHU), 8-4
3. Austin/Thomas (STJ) def. Anna Guryanova/Rodriguez (SHU), 8-4

Join the Seton Hall tennis team on Friday, April 13. when they host an ITA Campus Kids Day.

Events will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Auxillary Gym of the Richie Regan Athletic Center on Seton Hall's South Orange Campus.

Highlights will include tennis drills, racket stencling, autograph and picture opportunities, and pizza with the Pirates.

To register, please submit this FORM by Wednesday, April 11.