Pirates to Visit Monmouth, FDU This Weekend
4/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- The first week of April brings a brief respite from BIG EAST competition for the Seton Hall tennis team as the Pirates will visit local foes Monmouth and Fairleigh Dickinson on consecutive days before wrapping up the regular season with three more conference matches.
The Hall (6-8, 2-2 BIG EAST) looks to climb back to .500 after earning a split against a pair of league foes at home last week, recording four singles points to get past Providence, 4-3, in its most recent outing.
Junior Isabell Klingert (Oberbalbach, Germany) continued to make a case to be the third Pirate named an All-BIG EAST performer in the last two years with her performance last week, contributing SHU's lone point against Xavier and battling back to secure a three-set victory that lifted the Pirates over the Friars.
Klingert has scored victories at three different singles positions in her first season in South Orange and has now reached the 20-win plateau for 2014-15 overall. Her 12 dual match wins are already tied for the third-most by a Pirate in the last three seasons, just two shy of the leading mark of 14 posted by former standout Chloe Sher a season ago.
Klingert and Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) have formed one of the most dynamic duos in the conference, combining to post a 7-1 record against BIG EAST opposition. Liljekvist, who made the move to #1 after earning All-Conference honors following a 10-win campaign at #2 last spring, has reached double-digit dual match wins for the second season in-a-row after winning seven of her last nine singles appearances.
Freshman Katie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii) is on a similar roll, besting Hannah Zangari of Providence in straight sets in the sixth slot for her second conference victory and her third win in the last four matches overall. Kim and doubles partner Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) also recorded the team's lone doubles win against PC, improving to 4-2 over the last six and adding to their team-leading total for the spring.
The Providence match also featured the first conference victory for freshman Luize Strike (Riga, Latvia) who returned to action last week after being sidelined for over a month. Dating back to February, Strike has come out on top in three of her last four singles matches and her return stabilizes a #2 position where The Hall managed just one win during the time that she missed.
In Monmouth, the Pirates draw an opponent that has played nine dual matches but returned to the court for the first time since October last weekend, securing just two points in losses to Delaware State and Hofstra. The Hawks are slated to visit Wagner on Wednesday as well prior to meeting SHU for the second time in as many years. Last season, Seton Hall and Monmouth squared off for the first time in several seasons with The Hall blanking the Hawks, 7-0, to close the regular season.
That match featured three singles showdowns between three sets of student-athletes who will be available on Thursday with Liljekvist, Shoemaker and Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) dropping a total of only seven games in victories over Ashley Sandler, Chioma Gabriel and Kendal Kauffman respectively.
Seton Hall and Fairleigh Dickinson will go head-to-head for the first time since the fall of 2012 when the Knights squeaked out a 4-3 win. The reigning Northeast Conference (NEC) champions and an NCAA Tournament team from a season ago, Fairleigh Dickinson has struggled this spring and will enter Friday with losses in their last three.
During fall tournament action, Keenan and freshman Marisa Quevedo (Tyler, Texas) each crossed paths with FDU sophomore Shreya Pasricha with Keenan prevailing at the West Point Invitational and Quevedo coming up short in the qualifying bracket of the ITA Northeast Regional.
The Pirates will host St. John's a week after taking on Fairleigh Dickinson and then move on to close the regular season with trips to DePaul and Marquette. With three conference matches on the horizon, the Pirates will look to capitalize on an opportunity to secure victories over a pair of in-state foes and take steps towards a second consecutive double-digit win season.
Start-time against Monmouth is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. from West Long Branch. The Pirates will then head to Teaneck to take on the Knights on Friday at 3:00 p.m.
