Tennis Takes on Villanova and Quinnipiac
3/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 20, 2014
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Returning home to slightly cooler temperatures after posting a 2-1 record during a spring break trip to Puerto Rico last week, the Seton Hall tennis team looks to stay red-hot this weekend as the Pirates get set to travel to take on BIG EAST rival Villanova on Friday before hosting a Sunday matinee with Quinnipiac.
The Hall currently stands at 8-5 this spring and will enter Friday's matchup with the Wildcats as winners of five of their last six outings. Three of the victories during the recent run of success have come via shutout as Seton Hall blanked Fairfield and conference foe Providence prior to wrapping up last week's trip with a 7-0 drubbing of Valparaiso and the lone defeat came by a slim 4-3 margin to a talented East Carolina team in a match where the squads split six singles points.
As has often been the case over the last four seasons, senior Chloe Sher (Tin Sui Wai, Hong Kong) has been at the forefront of the charge during the month of March. Sher was recently named BIG EAST Women's Tennis Player of the Week for the second time in her career after completing the three-match swing unbeaten in both singles and doubles and overall; the veteran has not sustained a single loss since the beginning of the month.
Individually, Sher continues to shine at the #1 position for the Pirates, posting six consecutive straight-set victories, only once surrendering as many as four games in a set. For the season, she now holds a 9-3 record in dual match competition and with 11 wins in 16 spring appearances, owns 13 victories during the 2013-14 campaign.
Sophomore Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) has put together a similarly impressive streak, downing her last six opponents without yielding a single set as well. Splitting time between the third and fourth spots in the lineup, Keenan is tied for second on the team with junior Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) with eight dual match wins to this point in the spring.
Just as impactful as the Pirates' improved singles play has been the team's consistency on the doubles court. The Hall posted a 7-2 record in doubles last week and has earned the doubles point in six of its eight team victories this season.
Locked in at #1 for the fourth consecutive year have been Sher and co-captain Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico), who have put together a ledger that makes a stern case for improving their #9 ranking in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast regional poll. The two seniors have rattled off four-straight wins dating back to the meeting with the Friars; dropping a total of six games during that span. The duo is now 7-2 in dual matches and stands first on the squad with 15 victories as a pair in 2013-14.
For her part, Portela is also in the midst of perhaps her most successful singles campaign, recording seven wins thus far in the spring. The Puerto Rico native closed out her trip home with a dominant showing at #2 against Valparaiso's Kristin Zakiewicz - her second triumph in as many appearances in the second slot - and enters the weekend with wins in three of her last five outings.
The final two matches of last week's loaded slate also saw Keenan and Shoemaker reunited as a doubles tandem where they combined to post nine wins as underclassmen last season. Following the lineup shift, the two ran through opposition from Bryant and Valpo in their first two matches as a team this season, contributing consecutive 8-2 victories in second doubles action.
Shoemaker has exceled on the doubles court regardless of her pairing this season and is currently leading all Pirates with 17 doubles wins in all competitions. 11 of those victories came alongside sophomore Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) and all told, Shoemaker has been a part of five of the six wins Seton Hall has registered at the #2 doubles position.
The junior has also been one of the Pirates' most prolific individual players and by prevailing in five of her last six matches, she has pushed her win total to a team-best 19 for 2013-14.
Liljekvist was also at the center of the lineup tweak as the change and subsequent success figure to add stability to a doubles lineup that has seen head coach Greg Wyzykowski employ eight different tandems at #2 and #3 during the dual match season.
Together with junior Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) who was making her dual match doubles debut, Liljekvist added a strength to the #3 pair that had previously been missing as the two combined to sweep a pair of matches against the Bulldogs and Crusaders.
In addition to valuable contributions near the top of the singles lineup, Liljekvist is now tied for third on the team with eight doubles wins in the spring. A transfer in her first year at The Hall, the native Swede has been the primary choice for Wyzykowski at #2 and has responded with five dual match wins, including triumphs in three of her last four.
One of the Pirates' most reliable singles presences last season, Guryanova stepped in for freshman Julie Martiny (Brussels, Belgium) at #6 against Valparaiso and went on to shutout Morgan Paras to tally her third fourth victory in five dual match appearances dating back to 2012-13.
Martiny bumped up to #5 against the Crusaders and continued a recent surge that has seen her post a 3-1 record in the last four matches, defeating Paige Heuer in straight sets. The freshman is now 2-0 in the fifth slot for The Hall and appears to be settling into a rhythm, nearly doubling her season win total in the last two weeks.
This weekend, the Pirates will look to continue to build momentum heading into the season's stretch run, something Keenan, Portela and Sher all stressed in a recent video interview.
In order to do so, they'll need to get past a familiar foe in Villanova, whom the Pirates have defeated in five straight seasons, and a Quinnipiac squad that advanced all the way to the Northeast Conference (NEC) final a year ago, coming within one point of an NCAA Tournament berth.
WEEKEND PREVIEW
AT VILLANOVA WILDCATS
Friday, March 21 - 2:30 p.m. - Villanova, Pa.
The Villanova women stand at 3-5 in the spring after coming back to top Delaware, 4-3, last time out (March 16). Friday will be the team's home opener but three of the Pirates' five-straight wins over the Wildcats have come on the road. Villanova's win over the Blue Hens was its first over an NCAA Division I squad this season with their other two victories coming against Division III Whittier College and nationally-ranked NAIA squad Vanguard during a trip to California.
The Wildcats will enter the match under .500 for the season but are no strangers to pressure as five of their last six matches have been decided by one point.
The match will mark the third of five head-to-head showdowns with BIG EAST teams for the Pirates this spring who currently stand at 1-1 in the conference after cruising past Providence earlier this month. Last season, The Hall blanked Villanova, 7-0 at home, with Sher, Portela, Keenan and Shoemaker all scoring in the top-four singles positions.
VS. QUINNIPIAC BOBCATS
Sunday, March 23 - 1:00 p.m. - Newark, N.J. (NJIT Indoor Courts)
While Seton Hall frequently opens the fall season by traveling to the Quinnipiac Invitational, this will mark the first time that any current Pirate has faced the Bobcats in a dual match setting. Quinnipiac currently checks in at 3-7 on the season but will host Bryant on Saturday before visiting the Garden State for Sunday's matchup.
The Bobcats defeated Fairfield on Wednesday to snap a four-match losing streak and also own wins against Saint Joseph's and Rider. It has been a pair of divergent tales for Quinnipiac during the dual match season as QU has come out on top in nearly 60 percent of completed doubles matches (14-10, .583) but has struggled in singles competition, winning just 17 against 37 losses (.315).
Two Pirates posted victories over Quinnipiac representatives earlier this fall as Keenan downed Rachel Horton in the B flight quarterfinals at the QU Invitational and Liljekvist bested Sophia Dzulynsky - the Bobcats' primary #1 player this spring - in the semifinals of the top flight at the West Point Invitational.
Liljekvist also teamed with Shoemaker to eliminate Dzulynsky and Jackie Raynor en route to the A doubles final at the Quinnipiac Invitational.
Due to expected weather conditions, the match site has been moved indoors to the NJIT courts in Newark.
Full recaps will be available following each match on SHUPirates.com and don't forget to follow @SHU_Tennis on Twitter for news and updates.
