Pirates Head South for BIG EAST Championship

Cayce, S.C. – The Seton Hall women's tennis team is set to compete in the BIG EAST Tennis Championships at the Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center April 26-29. The No. 5 seeded Pirates take on No. 4 Xavier on Friday, April 27 at 12:30 p.m.

The Pirates are 7-10 overall with a 3-3 BIG EAST record, and five of the team's setbacks have been matches with a final score of 4-3.

Senior Luize Strike (Riga, Latvia) has been a steady fixture at the top flights all season alongside junior Anicka Fajnorova (Bratislava, Slovakia). Earlier this season, Fajnorova was named BIG EAST Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week after a combined 4-0 record with wins over Hofstra and DePaul at No. 1 doubles and No. 2 singles.

Contributing mainly at the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions, sophomore Melody Taal (Ede, Netherlands) has been one of the most important players on the team this season. She holds an 18-9 singles record and qualified for the ITA Regionals in the fall.

Junior Thandy Kangwa (Fort Myers, Fla.), senior Katie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii), and sophomores Michal Matson (St. Albans, New Zealand) and Anniek Jansen (Naarden, Netherlands) have been steady contributors all season, and have rotated at the No. 4-6 positions.

Last season, as the No. 6 seed, the Pirates defeated No. 3 Georgetown in the BIG EAST quarterfinal, marking the first postseason victory for the program since the conference realigned in 2013-14.