Seton Hall University
Navy Tournament
WTEN Posts Strong First Day at Navy
9/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Friday's slate included two rounds of singles and two rounds of doubles in pro-set style matches.
After defeating three Providence Friars on her way to the Quinnipiac Invitational A flight title, junior Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) maintained her winning form. Sher took on Lili Johnson of Manhattan in her only singles match of the day, moving on with a comfortable 8-2 win.
Also in the top flight, Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) captured her first main draw singles win of the new season, defeating Monmouth's Brooke Verdiglione, 8-3, in the opening round. In her next match, Portela was bested by Katelyn Stokes of Howard, falling 2-8.
Seton Hall experienced mixed results in the B flight as well. After receiving an opening round bye, experience won out in the end for senior captain Karina Cordero (Maracay Estado Aragua, Venezuela) as she outlasted Nova Southeastern freshman Louisa Pintado in a 9-7 affair.
Freshman Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.), a B flight finalist in her first collegiate appearance last weekend, came up short in what was another SHU-NSU showdown, falling to Austin Lavalli, 4-8.
Both Portela and Landert will continue singles play as they will enter the back draw.
In C and D flight competition, the Pirates posted a perfect 5-0 record on day one. Two of those wins came from sophomore Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) who breezed past her two opponents to earn a spot in the C flight quarterfinals. Shoemaker first eliminated George Mason senior Andrea Londen, 8-2, and then went on to double up Iryna Serdyuk of Nova Southeastern, 8-4.
With the C flight singles trophy from Quinnipiac already to her credit; freshman Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) extended her win streak to four matches to start her career with an 8-2 triumph over Navy's Mikaela Carlson.
After meeting in the finals at Quinnipiac for the second year in a row, sophomores Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) and Maria Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia) continued their run through D flight opponents, each coming out on top in their only match of the day.
Guryanova overpowered St. Bonaventure senior Riley Archer, taking an 8-1 win. Rodriguez was similarly dominant in her outing, dispatching NSU's Emily Hart by an identical 8-1 score line.
Fielding a total of four entries in doubles, the Pirates penciled in the same pairs that played together last week at the Quinnipiac Invitational.
After being bounced in their first match at QU, Portela and Sher had the strongest showing on for SHU on the day, winning two matches to advance to the A flight semifinals. In their first appearance, the two juniors endured a challenge from Emily Hughes and Haleigh Morgus of Loyola (Md.), advancing with a 9-7 victory.
In the quarterfinals, SHU's winningest duo moved past Monmouth's Nicole Lippens and Verdiglione on the strength of an 8-3 win. By advancing to the final four, Portela and Sher have drawn a date with Lavalli and Carlee Rizzolo of Nova Southeastern in the semifinals.
All other SHU doubles teams bowed out in their first match.
Competition continues from Annapolis tomorrow, Saturday, September 21. Saturday's schedule calls one round of doubles and two rounds of singles, leaving finals to be played when the tournament concludes on Sunday.
