Seton Hall University
Villanova
Tennis Blanks Villanova, 7-0
4/6/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – After coming from behind to secure a crucial doubles point, the Seton Hall tennis team swept all six singles matches en route to a convincing 7-0 win over Villanova in South Orange on Friday afternoon.
The victory was the fifth consecutive for the Pirates (5-9, 2-2) in the series, and their second without surrendering a single point to the Wildcats over that span.
After the teams split a pair of 8-6 decisions at #1 and #3 doubles to start the day, the doubles point came down to a matchup between Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) and Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) and the VU duo of Allison Kuse and Sydney West at #2.
Kuse and West jumped out to a 4-1 advantage and despite a rally from the Pirate pair, eventually sat one game away from victory with the match score at 7-4. Keenan and Shoemaker battled all the way back however, winning the next three games and four of the next five to force a tiebreak.
Riding that momentum, the tandem of SHU underclassmen scored all but one point, snapping a six-match losing skid with a gritty 9-8 (1) decision that swayed the doubles point in favor of The Hall.
The Pirates went on to cruise to four straight-set wins in the first four singles matches to be completed, securing their second conference victory of the season.
Junior Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) led the way, easing past Villanova’s Tori Smyth, 6-3, 6-0 in #2 singles to continue SHU’s surge on the scoreboard. The triumph was the fifth of the spring for the Puerto Rico native and the Pirates remain unbeaten in 2013 when she has scored a singles point.
Keenan followed with a victory at #3, capturing her second point as an individual in the last three matches. Squaring off with West for a second time on the day, Keenan dropped only six total games to the Villanova sophomore, emerging with a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 win.
The match clinching point came courtesy of Maria Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia), as the sophomore handled Anne Cognetti in their match in the sixth position. Rodriguez cruised to her fifth win in her last six appearances, controlling the action in a 6-2, 6-3 affair.
Rodriguez now ranks second on the team with eight dual match victories despite having not been in the lineup on two occasions thus far in the spring.
Senior Karina Cordero (Maracay Estado Aragua, Venezuela) also only dropped five total games in her match at #5, dispatching Kate Pette 6-3, 6-2 for her fourth win in the last six matches. Cordero, who has won 60 percent of her matches at #4, picked up her second win of the season when playing in the fifth slot.
Playing at #4 against the Wildcats was Shoemaker, as the sophomore picked up her first BIG EAST win of the season and moved to 7-8 overall in dual matches in 2012-13 with a three-set defeat of Kuse. After taking the first set, 6-2, Shoemaker faltered in the second, falling 4-6. With the shutout on the line, she doubled up Kuse in the decisive frame to book a 6-2, 4-6, 10-5 win that improved her record to 4-2 overall in three-set matches this season. With the result, she also became the third Pirate to reach the 15 combined wins mark this season, joining Rodriguez and team wins leader Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong).
Sher increased her team-high wins mark by besting Mikelle Mancini from atop the singles lineup, putting the finishing touches on a dominant performance and sending Villanova home empty-handed. The 7-6 (7), 6-3 victory was the 18th overall for Sher during her junior season and marks the third time during the dual match season she has put together back-to-back wins.
She is now in sole possession of seventh place on the school’s all-time wins list with 53, breaking what was a four-way tie.
Earlier in the day, Sher combined with Portela to pick up the pair’s 10th dual match win of the season and their seventh in the last nine appearances they have made together, all of which have come at #1.
Seton Hall has also captured the team doubles point in all five of its wins so far this spring.
After a travel day, the Pirates will return to action this Sunday, April 7, when they travel to Connecticut to take on the Huskies. Start-time is scheduled for Noon from Storrs.
Seton Hall 7, Villanova 0
Doubles
1. Rocio Portela/Chloe Sher (SHU) def. Mikelle Mancini/Tori Smyth (VU), 8-6
2. Julia Keenan/Madison Shoemaker (SHU) def. Allison Kuse/Sydney West (VU), 9-8 (1)
3. Wesleigh Donadio/Kate Pettee (VU) def. Anna Guryanova/Alex Landert (SHU), 8-6
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. Chloe Sher (SHU) def. Mikelle Mancini (VU), 7-6 (7), 6-3
2. Rocio Portela (SHU) def. Tori Smyth (VU), 6-3, 6-0
3. Julia Keenan (SHU) def. Sydney West (VU), 6-2, 6-4
4. Madison Shoemaker (SHU) def. Allison Kuse (VU), 6-2, 4-6, 10-5
5. Karina Cordero (SHU) def. Kate Pettee (VU), 6-3, 6-2
6. Maria Rodriguez (SHU) def. Anne Cognetti (VU), 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 6, 5, 4, 1
