Seton Hall University
NJIT
Tennis Downed By NJIT
2/16/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sophomore Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) scored the lone point for The Hall (0-3), becoming the fourth Pirate to reach the 10-win mark in 2012-13 after securing a three-set victory from the #5 singles position.
Juniors Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) and Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) also reached the double-digit win plateau in the match, capturing their fourth consecutive win as a team in #1 doubles.
Portela and Sher combined to stifle the Highlanders' top duo of Ksenia Kuzmenko and Jana Luste, giving SHU the early advantage in doubles play with an 8-3 decision. With the victory, Portela and Sher improved to 3-0 in dual match play this spring.
NJIT came out on top in #2 doubles, leaving the point to be decided from the #3 slot. Playing together for just the fifth time this season, sophomore Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) and freshman Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) went into a tiebreak, but came up just short, 7-8 (4), giving the doubles point to the home team.
NJIT went on to claim the first three singles matches to be decided, securing the match. After freshman Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.), who is still battling an injury, dropped a competitive match in the fourth slot, Sher's comeback attempt in her number one singles match with Kuzmenko was thwarted in the decisive third set.
With the team match already in hand for the Highlanders, Shoemaker persevered through a three-set marathon with Martina Tripcovici. The SHU sophomore took the opening set 6-2, but Tripcovici won the second 6-3. The third set was a back-and-forth affair with Shoemaker outlasting the NJIT junior, 10-8, to put Seton Hall on the board.
Shoemaker now has two dual match singles victories to her credit in 2012-13.
Friday's match was the first of two for the Pirates this weekend as SHU will battle another in-state rival when they travel to Princeton to take on the Tigers on Sunday, February 17. Start-time is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
Seton Hall 1, NJIT 6
Singles
1. Ksenia Kuzmenko (NJIT) def. Chloe Sher (SHU), 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
2. Monika Graff (NJIT) def. Rocio Portela (SHU), 6-0, 7-5
3. Jana Luste (NJIT) def. Alex Landert (SHU), 6-1, 6-2
4. Natalia Melibeu (NJIT) def. Julia Keenan (SHU), 7-6 (5), 6-3
5. Madison Shoemaker (SHU) def. Martina Tripcovici (NJIT), 6-2, 3-6, 10-8
6. Carolina Zanotta (NJIT) def. Karina Cordero (SHU), 6-2, 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 1, 5, 6
Doubles
1. Portela/Sher (SHU) def. Kuzmenko/Luste (NJIT), 8-3
2. Melibeu/Zanotta (NJIT) def. Keenan/Shoemaker (SHU), 8-3
3. Graff/Hannelore MacDonald (NJIT) def. Anna Guryanova/Landert (SHU), 8-7 (4)
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
