Liljekvist Named BIG EAST Player of the Week
2/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Following a 1-1 week in which she helped the Pirates split of matches with Longwood and Navy with a pair of singles victories, Seton Hall junior Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) has been named BIG EAST Women's Tennis Player of the Week the conference announced on Tuesday afternoon.
A 2014 All-BIG EAST selection, Liljekvist picks up the first weekly award of her career. She is just the second player in program history to be tabbed with the honor, joining former teammate Chloe Sher who took home the award three times; including twice last season.
Against the Lancers in the opening match of the weekend, the junior recorded one of five singles matches for The Hall, sealing the team's first victory of the spring with a convincing performance from the top position.
Matched up with Longwood's Malin Allgurin, Liljekvist delivered a 7-5, 6-3 result that clinched the triumph for SHU. Allgurin had won three-straight at #1 for the 3-1 Lancers heading into the matchup.
Less than 15 hours later, Liljekvist returned to the court and scored one of three singles wins for the Pirates in a narrow 4-3 defeat to hosts Navy. She needed just seven games over the minimum to get past the Mids' Sam Droop who ranks as Navy's active career wins leader with nearly 50 to her credit.
For the weekend, she headlined an effort in which the team got back on track with eight singles victories after posting one apiece in their first two outings of 2015. With two more wins from the first position, Liljekvist has now prevailed in 60 percent of the dual matches in which she has been penciled into the top spot over her two seasons at Seton Hall.
Overall, she has registered 13 dual match wins during her time in South Orange while making all of her appearances at either #1 or #2. Liljekvist recorded 10 such victories from the second slot behind the former standout Sher to help the Pirates finish with 12 wins including a shutout of Butler at the 2014 BIG EAST Championship.
Liljekvist and the Pirates will play threetimes this week,visiting rival Rutgers tomorrow, February 25 and NJIT (Feb. 27) before hosting Binghamton on Saturday.
