Seton Hall University
NJIT
Tennis Dominant in Road Win over NJIT
2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NEWARK, N.J. - After taking the doubles point for the first time in dual match play, the Seton Hall tennis team went on to score five more wins in singles competition as the Pirates recorded their second victory of the spring with a 6-1 rout of NJIT Friday.
With the win, The Hall has now topped the Highlanders in two consecutive meetings and SHU improved to 2-4 overall in head-to-head matches this season.
With two team members who have routinely been penciled in the top-three of the singles lineup sidelines, Seton Hall put its depth on full display as a combination of newcomers and veterans stepped in to deliver the convincing performance.
The doubles tandem of freshmanKatie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii)and seniorMadison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia)ignited a string of four consecutive wins for the Pirates to start the match; yielding only one game to Alba Rosas and Ines Vujkovac at #2 to register their third victory in the last four outings.
Making their first dual match appearance as a duo, seniorAnna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia)and juniorIsabell Klingert (Oberbalbach, Germany)needed just three over the minimum to get past Sydney Nowak and Natalija Tasovac in third doubles, clinching the point for SHU.
Already guaranteed a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play, juniorsJulia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.)andHannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden)hung on to outlast America East Player of the Week Nathalie Habegger and Carolina Zanotta at #1, earning a hard-fought 8-7 (5) result to capture their second dual match win as a pair in 2015.
Keenan made quick work of Rosas in third singles to extend the advantage on the scoreboard to two by virtue of a dominat 6-0, 6-1 triumph. Keenan is now 2-0 this week, regaining the form that helped her finish as the Pirates' wins leader a year ago.
Habegger pulled one back for the Highlanders with a win at #2 but in the remaining four matches, SHU fell in a total of one set.
From the fourth position, Klingert increased the gap back to two with a straight-set victory over Vujkovac. The junior was comfortably ahead 6-3, 5-2 before Vujkovac retired; officially giving Seton Hall in the point. In her first spring with The Hall after transferring from Gonzaga, Klingert has opened with an impressive run that has featured eight consecutive singles victories. The first three wins in the streak brought her the C flight title at the NJIT Invitational and her five dual match victories have seen her steadily climb the lineup with triumphs at #6, #5 and now the fourth spot as well.
Making her second-straight appearance in the singles lineup and third overall, Shoemaker notched the match-clinching point with a commanding 6-0, 6-1 triumph in a matchup with Valerie Carroll at #5. Shoemaker has now accounted for nine of the Pirates last 12 wins in fifth singles dating back to last season.
Guryanova was even more dominant at #6 where she blanked Nowak (6-0, 6-0) in her first dual match singles appearance of 2015. One of the squads most consistent performers throughout her career, the senior has now won in five of her last six outings as an individual in a dual match setting and owns an 11-4 record at #6 during her time in South Orange.
The reigning BIG EAST Player of the Week, Liljekvist closed the action by picking up her third win in the last four matches; prevailing in three sets over Zanotta. Liljekvist jumped out to a quick one-set lead by taking the first, 6-0, but claimed just one game in the second. In the decisive frame, the junior came out on top, 6-4 to move to 4-3 from the top spot over the last two seasons.
The Pirates will look to pick up another win tomorrow, Saturday, February 28, when they close a stretch of five matches in nine days by hosting Binghamton at the Center Court facility in Morristown, N.J. Start-time is set for 4:00 p.m.
Seton Hall 6, NJIT 1
Doubles
#1. Keenan/Liljekvist (SHU) def. Habegger/Zanotta (NJIT), 8-7 (5)
#2. Kim/Shoemaker (SHU) def. Rosas/Vujkovac (NJIT), 8-1
#3. Guryanova/Klingert (SHU) def. Nowak/Tasovac (NJIT), 8-3
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
#1. Hannah Liljekvist (SHU) def. Carolina Zanotta (NJIT), 6-0, 1-6, 6-4
#2. Nathalie Habegger (NJIT) def. Katie Kim (SHU), 6-1, 6-3
#3. Julia Keenan (SHU) def. Alba Rosas (NJIT), 6-0, 6-1
#4. Isabell Klingert (SHU) def. Ines Vujkovac (NJIT), 6-3, 5-2 ret.
#5. Madison Shoemaker (SHU) def. Valerie Carroll (NJIT), 6-0, 6-1
#6. Anna Guryanova (SHU) def. Sydney Nowak (NJIT), 6-0, 6-0
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 4, 5, 6, 1
