Seton Hall University
St. John's
Tennis Falls to St. John's, 5-2
4/13/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall tennis team wrapped up the 2013 regular season on Saturday afternoon, dropping a 5-2 decision to St. John’s at the Baird Courts in South Orange.
SHU closes the spring with a 5-12 record overall and a 2-5 mark against conference opponents. The Pirates will now await the announcement of their first round opponent at next week’s BIG EAST Championship which will be held in Tampa, Fla.
Team captain Karina Cordero (Maracay Estado Aragua, Venezuela) was honored as part of Senior Day festivities on Saturday and proceeded to pick up a point for the squad with a comeback win in her #6 singles matchup with Gvantsa Robakidze.
Robakidze took the first set, 6-3, but Cordero battled back to even the match with a 6-4 victory in the second set. SHU’s lone senior emerged from the tiebreak with her seventh dual match win of the season, outlasting the STJ sophomore 10-7 in the decider.
Cordero closes out the regular season with 10 victories in 2012-13 after coming out on top in three of her last four matches. Her seven dual match wins are tied for the third-most on the team and she will head into the conference tournament with five wins in nine matches against BIG EAST foes to this point.
Junior Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) will also head to Tampa riding a high note after she coasted to her fifth consecutive victory by overpowering St. John’s top player Nevena Selakovic in a 6-3, 6-1 win.
Sher has not lost a single set over that five-match span, all of which have come in conference play. Over the entire 2012-13 season, the Hong Kong native compiled a 9-1 record against BIG EAST opposition and has now defeated 16 of the last 18 conference opponents she has faced after going 7-1 within the league en route to becoming the first Pirate to be named to the All-BIG EAST Women’s Tennis Team last season.
The result also gave Sher her 21st victory between tournament and dual match play, a new single-season career-high.
Freshman Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) fell just short of picking up a third point for The Hall, falling in three sets to Diamond Adams in #3 singles. Keenan jumped out to a one-set advantage by taking the opener, 6-3, but could not put Adams away over the next two sets.
The Red Storm swept all three doubles matches and claimed three of the first four singles matches to be decided to clinch the team result.
In a change from last season, all 15 BIG EAST women’s tennis teams will travel to the conference championship this year. The event will be hosted by USF over four consecutive days beginning on Thursday, April 18.
Seeding for the tournament is expected to be announced by the conference this coming Monday.
Seton Hall 2, St. John’s 5
Doubles
1. Amber Washington/Diamond Adams (STJ) def. Rocio Portela/Chloe Sher (SHU), 8-2
2. Ksenia Mikhaylova/Nevena Selakovic (STJ) def. Julia Keenan/Madison Shoemaker (SHU), 8-4
3. Yanita Arnaudova/Gvantsa Robakidze (STJ) def. Anna Guryanova/Alex Landert (SHU), 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. Chloe Sher (SHU) def. Nevena Selakovic (STJ) 6-3, 6-1
2. Amber Washington (STJ) def. Rocio Portela (SHU) 6-4, 7-5
3. Diamond Adams (STJ) def. Julia Keenan (SHU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
4. Yanita Arnaudova (STJ) def. Alex Landert (SHU) 6-3, 6-3
5. Ksenia Mikhaylova (STJ) def. Madison Shoemaker (SHU) 6-4, 6-3
6. Karina Cordero (SHU) def. Gvantsa Robakidze (STJ) 3-6, 6-4, 10-7
Order of Finish: 4, 1, 5, 2, 3, 6
