Seton Hall University
Bryant University
Players Mentioned
Tennis Downs Bryant and Valpo
3/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 13, 2014
HUMACAO, PUERTO RICO - The Seton Hall tennis team wrapped up a spring break trip to Puerto Rico this afternoon with its second win in as many days, shutting out Valparaiso after downing Bryant, 5-2, in action from Puerto Rico yesterday.
With two convincing victories in the last 48 hours, the Pirates (8-5) will return home as winners of five of their last six matches. In singles competition, senior Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) was joined by sophomore Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) in winning all three of their matches during the spring break trip, stretching each of their individual winning streaks to six.
The doubles team of Sher and Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) continued to roll as well, finishing the trip unbeaten to extend their run to four consecutive wins at the #1 position. In all, head coach Greg Wyzykowski's team exceled on the doubles court this week, winning seven of nine matches.
Seton Hall 5, Bryant 2
The Pirates jumped ahead early against the Bulldogs yesterday, sweeping all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead.
Sher and Portela set the tone by dropping only one game en route to a dominant victory over Bryant's top duo of Rosie Bird and Ryan Brown while a switch in the lineup at #2 yielded similarly successful results.
After having not played together in a competitive match all season, Keenan and junior Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) needed little time to regain the form that helped them finish second on the team a year ago with nine wins as a pair. Keenan and Shoemaker clinched the doubles point, easily moving past Marion Boullin and Briana Leonard, 8-2.
The matchup at the third position also saw a new Pirate tandem put one in the win column as sophomore Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) combined with junior Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia), who was making her first doubles appearance of the dual match season, to complete the sweep with an 8-6 victory over Devlin Ann Ammendola and Steph Smyers.
In singles, freshman Julie Martiny (Brussels, Belgium) got The Hall started on the right foot with her second win in three matches, yielding only one game over two sets in a victory over Ammendola at #6.
Keenan also made quick work of Steph Smyers in the fourth position, posting a 6-3, 6-0 win that made the score 3-0 and moved the Pirates to within one point of victory.
The clinching point came from Sher at the top position as she defeated Boullin, 6-2, 6-4 to give SHU its first win in Puerto Rico after the Pirates were edged by East Carolina, 4-3, on Monday.
Shoemaker added a point in the next singles match to be decided, twice doubling up Leonard, 6-3, 6-3 to score her 17th win of 2013-14.
Match Results
Doubles
#1. Portela/Sher (Seton Hall) def. Bird/Brown (Bryant), 8-1
#2. Keenan/Shoemaker (Seton Hall) def. Boullin/Leonard (Bryant), 8-2
#3. Anna Guryanova/Liljekvist (Seton Hall) def. Ammendola/Smyers (Bryant), 8-6
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
#1. Chloe Sher (Seton Hall) def. Marion Boullin (Bryant), 6-2, 6-4
#2. Ryan Brown (Bryant) def. Hannah Liljekvist (Seton Hall), 6-3, 7-5
#3. Rosie Bird (Bryant) def. Rocio Portela (Seton Hall), 7-5, 2-6, 10-5
#4. Julia Keenan (Seton Hall) def. Steph Smyers (Bryant), 6-3, 6-0
#5. Madison Shoemaker (Seton Hall) def. Briana Leonard (Bryant), 6-3, 6-3
#6. Julie Martiny (Seton Hall) def. Devlin Ann Ammendola (Bryant), 6-1, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 1, 5, 3, 2
Seton Hall 7, Valparaiso 0
Following the victory against Bryant, the Pirates took care of business earlier today against a Valparaiso team that was 1-10 entering the match; earning their fourth shutout victory of the season.
Another resounding doubles performance gave The Hall momentum headed into singles where the Pirates tallied six straight-set wins to complete the sweep.
Overall, Seton Hall dropped just five games across three doubles matches, emphatically moving ahead, 1-0. Guryanova and Liljekvist were the first to put a win in the books, prevailing 8-1 over Michele Fredlake and Angelina Goheen at the #3 spot to improve to 2-0 as a team.
Keenan and Shoemaker also moved to 2-0 as a pair with an 8-1 win against Megan Barthels and Paige Heuer in their #2 showdown, clinching the doubles point for The Hall.
At #1, Portela and Sher downed Kaitlyn Hamel and Kristin Zakiewicz, 8-2, to make their dual match record an impressive 7-2 on the year. Portela and Sher have appeared at #1 in every outing for the Pirates but have had four matches brought to a halt prior to completion.
Inserted in the singles lineup for just the second time in 2014 - the first ending in a walkover against Saint Peter's - Guryanova came out in impressive fashion and blanked Morgan Paras at #6 to book her eighth individual win of the season. Guryanova has been one of the Pirates' most consistent singles players over the course of her career and has exceled in limited action as a junior after registering a .688 winning percentage last season.
In her second appearance at #4 this season, Shoemaker won the first set 6-1 against Barthels before taking six games in a row to close out the second set. The junior is now 2-0 at #4 this spring and is 6-3 in the fourth spot over the last two seasons.
Like Guryanova in the sixth slot, Sher cruised to a win without allowing her opponent to claim a single game, overpowering Hamel in #1 singles action. The standout senior is now 9-2 in her last 11 appearances including her six-match winning streak.
Martiny stepped up to the #5 slot for the second time in this her debut season and downed Fredlake, 6-0, 6-3 to put together back-to-back victories for the first time this spring. Primarily used at #6 to this point in her freshman campaign, Martiny is now 2-0 in her opportunities at #5.
Back at the #2 position, Portela closed out a trip that served as a bit of a homecoming for the Puerto Rican native with 11th singles triumph of the year, besting Zakiewicz, 6-3, 6-4. Portela now stands at 2-0 in the second slot this season after serving as the squad's primary option at #2 over her first three years at The Hall.
Keenan put the exclamation mark on the team victory, posting a 6-4, 6-2 win over Heuer in third singles play. The sophomore has come out on top in both of her appearances at #3 in the spring and owns 18 singles victories overall in 2013-14 to put her career total at 32 in less than two full seasons.
The Pirates are back in action next Friday, March 21 when they visit BIG EAST foe Villanova. Start-time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Match Results
Doubles
#1. Portela/Sher (Seton Hall) def. Hamel/Zakiewicz (Valparaiso), 8-2
#2. Keenan/Shoemaker (Seton Hall) def. Barthels/Heuer (Valparaiso), 8-2
#3. Anna Guryanova/Liljekvist (Seton Hall) def. Fredlake/Goheen (Valparaiso), 8-1
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
#1. Chloe Sher (Seton Hall) def. Kaitlyn Hamel (Valparaiso), 6-0, 6-0
#2. Rocio Portela (Seton Hall) def. Kristin Zakiewicz (Valparaiso), 6-3, 6-4
#3. Julia Keenan (Seton Hall) def. Paige Heuer (Valparaiso), 6-4, 6-2
#4. Madison Shoemaker (Seton Hall) def. Megan Barthels (Valparaiso), 6-1, 6-0
#5. Julie Martiny (Seton Hall) def. Michele Fredlake (Valparaiso), 6-0, 6-3
#6. Anna Guryanova (Seton Hall) def. Morgan Paras (Valparaiso), 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 1, 5, 2, 3
