Seton Hall University
Georgetown
Tennis Edged at Georgetown; 4-3
4/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 5, 2014
Follow @SHU_TennisWASHINGTON, D.C. - The Seton Hall tennis team traveled to Georgetown on Friday and scored three singles victories for the second-straight match - all in the top-three positions - but the Hoyas handed the Pirates a 4-3 defeat by virtue of a win in doubles competition.
Little separated the two squads on the day as Seton Hall (10-7, 2-2) was coming off a 4-3 setback against Connecticut that was decided in the final match and once again, The Hall was edged at the finish after heading into singles play one point behind.
The doubles point was a constant as the Pirates made a torrid run through March but in the last two matches, it has escaped the Pirates. Seniors Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) and Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) fell at #1, 8-5, to the Georgetown pair of Liselot Koenen and Victoire Saperstein putting the Hoyas in control early. In their first-ever appearance as a team, sophomores Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) and Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) bested Sophie Panarese and Taylor Perz by an identical 8-5 score-line in third doubles, leveling proceedings. Georgetown would ultimately pick up the crucial point however as Kelly Comolli and Madeline Jaeger posted an 8-3 win over the Pirates' Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) and Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) at #2.
As singles began, Panarese widened the gap to two for the Hoyas by getting past Shoemaker, 6-3, 6-3. In the third position, Portela notched the first point of the day for the Pirates as she yielded only six games in a straight-set (6-4, 6-2) triumph over Jaeger. The senior now owns eight dual match victories on the season and is an impressive 3-1 against BIG EAST opponents.
Her classmate Sher pulled the Pirates even as she easily downed Saperstein in the top slot, recording a 7-5, 6-2 win to hand the Hoyas' primary #1 player her first loss in four matches. A two-time BIG EAST Player of the Week selection, Sher is now 12-4 in head-to-head competition, all in first singles, and has come out on top in nine of her last 10 outings.
At #4, Keenan entered the day riding a nine-match individual winning streak but was stopped by Sophia Barnard who registered a 6-4, 7-5 win to move Georgetown to within one point of the team victory. The loss was the first for Keenan since February 28 against Princeton's Dorothy Tang and the sophomore had dropped only one set in that span.
As the Hoyas moved closer to securing the match, Liljekvist and Comolli were engaged in a back-and-forth affair at #2. The Seton Hall sophomore had cruised to a 6-0 first set victory, but Comolli came back to squeak out a 7-5 result in the second to force a decisive frame. The third set was equally competitive, but it was Liljekvist who found the finishing touch to prevail 7-5 and leave the match to be decided at #6. With Portela reaching the mark earlier in the day, Liljekvist became the fifth Pirate with as many as eight dual match wins this season as opposed to just two in 2012-13.
Inserted back in the lineup after not appearing against Connecticut, freshman Julie Martiny (Brussels, Belgium) entered her sixth singles matchup with Koenen looking for her fourth win in her last five matches. Martiny shot out to a 5-1 first set advantage over Koenen, who carried a 5-1 record at #6 into the day, but the Georgetown sophomore rattled off six games in-a-row to take the frame, 7-5. Martiny bounced back to claim the second set, 6-2, but in the final frame Koenen took six out of seven games to give the Hoyas a narrow victory.
The Pirates are back in action on Tuesday, April 4 against rival Rutgers. A determination on start-time and site will be made based on expected weather conditions. Be sure to check SHUPirates.com and follow @SHU_Tennis on Twitter for updates as the match will serve as Senior Day for the team's decorated co-captains, Rocio Portela and Chloe Sher.
Seton Hall 3, Georgetown 4
Doubles
#1: Koenen/Saperstein (Georgetown) def. Sher/Portela (Seton Hall); 8-5
#2: Comolli/Jaeger (Georgetown) def. Shoemaker/Keenan (Seton Hall); 8-3
#3: Liljkevist/Landert (Seton Hall) def. Perz/Panarese (Georgetown); 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
#1: Chloe Sher (Seton Hall) def. Victoire Saperstein (Georgetown); 7-5, 6-2
#2: Hannah Liljekvist (Seton Hall) def. Kelly Comolli (Georgetown); 6-0, 5-7, 7-5
#3: Rocio Portela (Seton Hall) def. Madeline Jaeger (Georgetown); 6-4, 6-2
#4: Sophia Barnard (Georgetown) def. Julia Keenan (Seton Hall); 6-4, 7-5
#5: Sophie Panarese (Georgetown) def. Madison Shoemaker (Seton Hall); 6-3, 6-3
#6: Liselot Koenen (Georgetown) def. Julie Martiny (Seton Hall); 7-5, 2-6, 6-1
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 1, 4, 2, 6
