Players Mentioned
Tennis Wraps Up Regular Season at Monmouth
4/17/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 17, 2014
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Heading into tomorrow's regular season finale at Monmouth, the Seton Hall tennis team looks to get back in the win column and regain the form that saw The Hall win seven of its first eight matches in the month of March ahead of next week's BIG EAST Championship.
The Pirates (10-9, 2-3) have dropped four-straight since the aforementioned March run but three of those defeats have come by a one-point margin, including last Friday's 4-3 loss to St. John's.
Seton Hall did put an end to its doubles slide against the Red Storm, getting off to an auspicious start for the first time in four matches by claiming wins at #1 and #3.
Seniors Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) and Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) picked up their 19th total victory of 2013-14 and their 11th of the dual match season with an 8-6 result over Yanita Arnaudova and Anna Morozova that clinched the doubles point for SHU. The duo has now come out on top in eight of the last 10 contests and the two co-captains remain the BIG EAST leaders in wins in first doubles this spring.
Sophomores Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) and Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) had gotten things started for The Hall with an emphatic showing in third doubles, topping Stephanie Elgegren and Puck Vlaskamp, 8-2. Landert and Liljekvist have now prevailed in two of their three appearances together and appear to be settling in at #3 as the conference championship approaches after head coach Greg Wyzykowski had previously employed five other pairs at #3.
Doubles figures to be an area in which the Pirates will have the upper hand over a Monmouth squad that will enter tomorrow's matchup with a 5-14 record and a 3-6 mark at home. The Hawks have won less than 30 percent of their doubles matches as a team between the fall and the spring and the squad does not boast a single pairing with a winning percentage over .500.
Farrah Smoke and Brooke Verdiglione lead Monmouth with seven victories as a duo but they have needed 19 matches at #1 to reach that plateau. Chioma Gabriel and Ashley Sandler are 6-10 in second doubles while Robyn Belen and Kendal Kauffman can be expected to be penciled in at #3 where they have won just four of their 10 appearances.
Though The Hall entered singles play with the advantage over St. John's, only Landert and Portela were successful on the singles court as St. John's rallied for the win.
Landert dropped just three games in the final two sets to post a comeback victory over Vlaskamp at #6 that leveled the team score at 2-2 to that point. In three appearances since returning to action after an extended absence, Landert has twice scored from the sixth slot; adding stability to a position that has statistically been the weakest for the Pirates this spring.
Portela's victory also came in three sets against Arnaudova at #3, as the senior gritted out an important point despite the fact that the team result has already been decided. Portela has made the most out of her shift to the third position this spring, registering nine dual match victories including a 5-2 mark in her last seven individual matches.
Consistency has been an issue for the Pirates during the current four-match slide however as only Landert, Liljekvist and Portela have won twice during the stretch.
At Monmouth, Seton Hall is presented with an excellent opportunity to get back to its winning ways as the Hawks' primary options at the top-three singles positions are a combined 10-43 on the year. Kauffman and Gabriel are tied for the team-lead with six victories at #4 and #5 respectively but Monmouth currently holds less than a 40 percent success rate at all six singles positions.
This current group of Pirates will be getting their first-ever look at Monmouth in a head-to-head format when the team travels to West Long Branch tomorrow morning. Start-time is set for Noon.
Following the weekend's action, seeding and matchups for the 2014 BIG EAST Championship will be determined and announced by the conference on Monday afternoon. The championship will begin on Thursday, April 24 and run over four consecutive days from the US National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
