Seton Hall University
USTA Collegiate Invitationl
Keenan/Shoemaker into USTA Finals
10/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Inclement weather played a factor in the proceedings, as rain forced play to move indoors early on in the day.
On Saturday, SHU captured three main draw quarterfinal berths. The doubles teams of Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico)/Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) and Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.)/Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) moved on to the final eight of their respective draws, while sophomore Maria Rodriguez (Bogota, Colombia) advanced in I flight singles with two straight set wins .
Doubles play was an area of emphasis heading into the weekend according to head coach Greg Wyzykowski. Over the weekend, Keenan and Shoemaker shone as the highlight of a strong effort on the doubles court for SHU, as the team vastly improved its results over previous outings in the regional tournament.
In their quarterfinal match, Keenan/Shoemaker drew a date with Sarah Ali and Bella Genkina of Fordham. The two Pirate underclassmen teamed to best the pair from the Bronx, moving on to the semifinals with an 8-4 win. In what turned out to be a BIG EAST semifinal showdown, Keenan and Shoemaker throttled past Providence's Taylor Corder and Alana Prinos, posting an 8-2 victory.
With the win, Keenan/Shoemaker became the first SHU doubles pair to appear in a main draw final at the USTA Tournament. They are schedule to play the Fairleigh Dickinson team of Nicole Chris and Manuela Leme in the championship.
A singles champion in the first two tournaments of the fall, the freshman Keenan now is one win away from taking home a title from her first three collegiate competitions.
"I am proud of how our team has responded to a demanding schedule over the past two days," said Wyzykowski. "We spoke about the importance of doubles going into this tournament and as a whole, I think the squad competed at a level that reflects the progress we have made. I think the girls did a great job representing Seton Hall tennis and we are very excited to have Julia and Madison in the finals tomorrow with a chance to take home another title for us."
In other doubles main draw action, Portela and Sher came up short in their quarterfinal match with LIU's Taysha Blessington and Sanne Louwers. After registering an 8-2 opening round win on Saturday, SHU's top pair fell, 2-8, earlier today.
With one more match left on their schedule, Portela and Sher bounced back to close their day with a 9-7 triumph over Stefania Balasa and Gina Li of Rutgers.
In her third singles match in two days, Rodriguez was matched up against Nicole Chris of Fairleigh Dickinson. With a spot in the I flight semifinals on the line, it was Chris who ultimately advanced by prevailing in two sets.
The Pirates had several other successes on the day though, as three different team members came out on top in singles competition prior to the rain setting in.
Doubles finalists Keenan and Shoemaker each added an individual win to their tally for the day as they both defeated an Ivy League opponent.
Keenan swept Dartmouth senior Christina Danosi, 6-2, 6-3 to close singles play at the USTA with a 2-1 record. Shoemaker also improved her mark to 2-1 for the weekend, defeating Lauren Michaels of Cornell, 7-6, 6-1.
Sophomore Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) also notched her second win in three singles matches. Guryanova topped Army's Haley O'Connor in three sets (6-0, 4-6, 10-4) to remain tied with Keenan for the team lead in singles wins this fall.
Freshman Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) also earned a split in her first two singles matches on Saturday. On Sunday, Landert was credited with a win by default after her opponent Diamond Adams (St. John's) withdrew with an injury.
Monday will serve as the final day of the competition. Play will resume at 9 a.m. and the day's schedule will only include the remaining main draw matches.
