Players Mentioned
Pirates Open Fall Slate at Quinnipiac
9/18/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – The Seton Hall women's tennis team is in Connecticut Friday to open the 2015 fall campaign, once again heading to the Quinnipiac Invitational for its first appearance of the new season.
A frequent destination for the Pirates, trips to Hamden have yielded exceptional results for The Hall over the past few years and 2014 was no exception.
Senior Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) headlines a group of six returnees after becoming just the second Pirate to earn All-BIG EAST honors in back-to-back seasons and will be back on the courts in Quinnipiac where she teamed with classmate Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) to advance to the semifinals of the top doubles flight last fall.
Sophomores Marisa Quevedo (Tyler, Texas) and Katie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii) will kick-off their second seasons in blue and white at the site in which they each advanced to the B flight singles championship to create what was an all-Pirate final. Kim was eventually credited with the victory after Quevedo retired but the pair will be looking for a similarly strong open this weekend.
Senior Isabell Klingert (Oberbalbach, Germany) also came within one match of a championship appearance at Quinnipiac a year ago, dropping a total of six games in her first two matches in a Pirate uniform before being edged in the C flight semis.
Sophomore Luize Strike (Riga, Latvia) also recorded a singles victory in the A singles flight in her collegiate debut at Quinnipiac and will be looking to build off a stellar spring showing during which she emerged as one of the team's most consistent performers.
Entering the fold for head coach Greg Wyzykowski are freshmen Anna Fajnorová (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Thandiwe Kangwa (Fort Myers, Fla.)following the graduation of Class of 2015 members Anna Guryanova and Madison Shoemaker.
A native Slovakian who has been ranked among the top-10 nationally in her age group for each of the last two years, Fajnorová spent 2013 and 2014 competing exclusively in the premier national U18 tournaments where she captured three singles championships and advanced to the quarterfinals or beyond on 16 occasions.
A three-time All-Area Tennis Player of the Year for Fort Myers High School, Kangwa will begin competing for the Pirates after advancing to the FHSAA Class AAA title matches in both singles and doubles as a senior to cap a stellar prep career.
Though injuries played a role in the selection, the Pirates return two of the three doubles pairs that were selected in each of the last four matches last season; including both at the BIG EAST Tournament. Liljekvist and Keenan occupied the top spot in the Seton Hall doubles lineup while another tandem of classmates in Kim and Quevedo competed at second doubles.
With fall competition beginning, the next few weeks will serve to help the Pirates find new duos with an eye towards the ITA Northeast Regional Championships in late October as well as the spring championship season.
The Quinnipiac Invitational is also the first of four fall tournaments on fall slate that also includes a dual match against Fordham. The Hall will be joined in Hamden by hosts Quinnipiac as well as familiar foes in Connecticut, Drexel, Fairfield, Hartford, Providence, Sacred Heart and Rhode Island at the nine-team event.
Play begins on Friday and will continue over three consecutive days with championship matches wrapping up on Sunday, September 20.
Follow @SHU_Tennis on Twitter for updates throughout the weekend.
