Tennis Continues Strong Play at Quinnipiac Invitational
9/18/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
HAMDEN, CONN. - Play continued yesterday for the Seton Hall tennis team at day two of the 2011 Quinnipiac Invitational.
The schedule for Saturday included two rounds of singles matches in all four flights of competition, followed by the semifinal round of doubles matches.
In the A flight singles bracket, sophomore Pui Wing Sher (Shui Wai, Hong Kong) struggled to find a rhythm and dropped her first match to Abby Liu of Hartford 6-3, 6-3. In her first match of the day, Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) defeated Ashley Harel of Hartford in straight sets despite suffering a slightly sprained ankle in the first set. Showing great resolve, Portela would fight through a three set marathon in the second round, eventually falling to Jennifer Learmonth of Connecticut. Sher and Portela also dropped their A flight doubles semifinal match to Dassa/Raynor of Quinnipiac 8-4.
Elizabeth Verow (Barnt Green, England) was victorious in her only singles match of the day, defeating Connecticut's Marie Gargiulo 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals of the B flight bracket. Also in the B flight, freshman Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) notched her first collegiate singles victory when she defeated Allison Radde of Fairfield in the first round. Shoemaker later fell short against Connecticut freshman Maxene Weinberg in the second round. In the A flight doubles nightcap, Verow/Shoemaker could not overcome Viebrock/Labarthe of Quinnipiax, falling 8-2.
Senior Courtney Kilarski (Roseville, Calif.) overpowered Delaney Downing of Sacred Heart in the first round of C flight singles competition, dropping only one game in two sets. Kilarski then took the first set of her second round match against Dassa of Quinnipiac before falling in a hotly contested three set match.
Karina Cordero (Maracay Estado Aragua, Venezuela) delivered a standout performance for the Pirates on day two. Cordero swept Sacred Heart's Maggie Tooley in her only singles match of the day, advancing to today's C flight semifinals. Cordero clinched her second straight appearance in the finals of the B flight doubles bracket as she teamed with Kilarski to handle Parker/Gleason from Army 8-2.
A pair of Seton Hall freshmen distinguished themselves among the D flight singles field as both Maria Del Rosario Rodriguez (Bogotá, Colombia) and Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) recorded wins in each of their first two matches as Pirates. The two will continue play today in the semifinals of their draw as Rodriguez faces Julia Allen of UConn and Guryanova goes up against Kristin Legenza of Sacred Heart. The two continued their strong play as they paired to push Cantor/Launie of Quinnipiac to the limit, eventually falling short 8-6 in B flight doubles semifinals.
Play concludes today at Quinnipiac University. The day three schedule has a noticeable Pirate flavor, as The Hall is represented in the B flight doubles final and four separate singles semifinal matches.
