Tennis Resumes Fall Slate at USTA Invitational
10/10/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 10, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Schedule conflicts and Mother Nature have prevented the Seton Hall women's tennis team from following up their trip to the West Point Invitational with their first dual match of the new year; meaning that when the Pirates take the court tomorrow at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Invitational, they will be competing for the first time in 12 days.
An originally scheduled meeting with Fairleigh Dickinson was nixed before the replacement match with Fordham scheduled for last Sunday was washed out by inclement weather.
What it all adds up to is a SHU squad eager to get back on the court after sound performances at the first two tournaments of a month-old fall season.
Though the team has come up just short of bringing home a number of titles, the strong, consistent play up and down the Pirates' lineup has been impressive. Seton Hall has had a presence in three championship matches thus far this season, each of which has been in the top-two flights of competition.
At the Quinnipiac Invitational, sophomore Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) continued her run of dominance in fall matches as she dropped only 11 games in three wins leading up to the B flight final.
Junior Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) and sophomore Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) also recorded three victories in their first appearance as a doubles tandem, becoming the first SHU pair to reach the A flight final at Quinnipiac.
Overall, six of seven team members that competed in singles recorded a victory on opening weekend, combining for a total of 15 wins behind three apiece for Keenan, Shoemaker and senior Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico). Also, three of The Hall's doubles duos recorded main draw victories as Keenan teamed with freshman Julie Martiny (Brussels, Belgium) to earn a spot in the B flight semifinals while Portela and longtime partner Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) added a win in A flight competition as well.
On the last weekend of September, the team traveled to upstate New York to be a part of a 14-team field at the West Point Invitational.
The three-day trip featured 24 total victories for The Hall, highlighted by Liljekvist's charge to the A flight singles final where she was upended by top-seeded Alexis Casati of Illinois.
Guryanova came within one win of making it two Pirates in the finals at West Point but fell in the semis of the 4th singles bracket after playing her way to two victories to earn a spot in the final-four.
Seton Hall also saw Keenan, Portela, Sher, and sophomore Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) score main draw victories, advancing to the round-of-16 in their respective flights.
In doubles, Seton Hall had two teams reach main draw quarterfinals as Portela and Sher recorded two victories in A doubles while Keenan and Martiny came out on top in their first two B doubles matches to reach the round of eight.
At this weekend's USTA event, the Pirates will get the opportunity to play at the National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens, home to the U.S. Open as well as the 2014 BIG EAST Championship.
Last season's trip to the USTA tournament was defined by the team's excellent doubles play and featured a memorable run to the #4 doubles finals for Keenan and Shoemaker, who served as a team last season.
Over the first two days of matches, the two fought their way to three wins, becoming the first SHU twosome to advance to a final in the event. After defeating Hsu/Uberoi (Brown) in a heated 9-7 first round affair, the pair of underclassmen cruised into the final with two convincing victories. The duo downed Sarah Ali and Bella Genkina of Fordham 8-4, followed by an 8-2 win over the Providence team of Taylor Corder and Alana Prinos, earning a bid at the flight championship.
With the title up for grabs, Keenan and Shoemaker squared off with Nicole Chris and Manuela Leme, members of a defending NEC Champion Fairleigh Dickinson squad. SHU quickly grabbed the upper hand as Keenan/Shoemaker jumped out to a 3-1 lead. The early advantage evaporated however, as the duo eventually found themselves down 4-6 in the pro-set style scoring match.
The Pirates rallied to take the next two games though, and were on serve with the match level at 6-6. Chris and Leme responded by mounting a rally of their own, stringing together wins in the final two games to take the match, 8-6.
The result brought to an end what was a grueling three-day stretch for Keenan and Shoemaker that included seven total matches (singles and doubles) for each in a 72-hour span.
Portela and Sher also shone, reaching the quarterfinals of the #2 doubles bracket.
Play from Flushing will begin tomorrow morning at carry through Sunday, October 13.
For live updates, team news and more, follow @SHU_Tennis on Twitter.
