Tennis Wraps Up USTA Invitational
10/14/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Oct. 14, 2013
FLUSHING, N.Y. - The Seton Hall tennis team wrapped up a successful weekend at the USTA Collegiate Invitational on Sunday, finishing the three day tournament with a total of seven quarterfinal appearances between doubles and singles competition.
Of all the SHU entries, the doubles pair of Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) and Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) advanced the furthest in the main draw by earning a spot in the semifinals of the top doubles bracket at the tournament.
The team's two senior captains defeated Cameron Lai and Dorothy Safron of Delaware, 8-4 in the opener before bouncing Fordham's Elliesa Ball and Sarah Ali, 8-6 to move into the final-four where their run at a championship ultimately came to an end.
Sophomore Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) teamed with freshman Julie Martiny (Brussels, Belgium) to move into the quarterfinals of the #3 doubles draw, besting Danielle Gryckiewicz and Lucy Jasso (St. Francis Pa.), 8-5. After being eliminated from the main draw, Keenan and Martiny added a second victory to their doubles haul, doubling up Nathalie Habegger and Carolina Zanotta of NJIT, 8-4 in consolation play.
Junior Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) and doubles partner Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) also picked up two wins over the weekend at the National Tennis Center, rebounding from an opening round loss to record back-to-back victories over Sarah Bowen and Carmen Pestano of Hofstra (8-4) and Columbia's tandem of Tiana Takenaga and Laura Wiley (9-7).
Five Pirates also advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective singles brackets and seven team members took home at least one win overall.
Sher finished among the final eight in A singles competition after moving past Binghamton's Katya Medianik in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1.
Keenan staved off first round elimination with a gritty performance against another Bearcat in Alexis Tashiro, bouncing back from a 4-6 first set loss to take the next two, 6-4, 10-6 in their D flight matchup.
Keenan later finished up with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Providence's Jennifer DeLuca.
Shoemaker overmatched Lucy Jasso (6-3, 6-0) in the first round of F flight play, while junior Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) and Martiny both registered main draw wins in the G flight.
Up against Kim Milla (Delaware), Guryanova cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 while Martiny played her way into the round-of-eight by virtue of a 6-3, 6-3 result over Briana Leonard (Bryant).
Sophomore Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) also scored a straight-set individual win, getting the better of Hofstra's Bianca Derrick, 6-3, 6-2.
The Pirates will be back in action, this Thursday, October 17 when they head to the ITA Regional Championship for their fourth tournament of the fall season.
