Seton Hall University
West Point Invitational
Pirates Cruise Through Singles on Day One at West Point
9/27/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sept. 27, 2013
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Seton Hall women's team took to the court on Friday for day one of the Army Women's Invitational and closed the night with a series of singles victories as five of the six Pirates who played individual matches scored victories, all in straight sets, to advance in the main draw.
Singles competition is divided into four flights this weekend in West Point and matches began with two SHU representatives in each.
Senior co-captain Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) scored her first victory of the season in the "1st Singles" bracket, easily bouncing a familiar foe in Connecticut junior Maxie Weinberg (6-2, 6-2).
Sophomore Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) coasted in similar fashion in her "1st Singles" opener, taking down Sarah Ali of Fordham, 6-3, 6-2. The win was the second of the year for the Saint Mary's (CA) transfer after she bested Army's Carolyn Pitman in her Seton Hall debut at the Quinnipiac Invitational two weeks ago.
In the "2nd Singles" bracket, senior co-captain Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) extended her personal winning streak to four with a 6-4, 6-2 result over Kristen Scott (SUNY-Albany). Portela previously closed her weekend at Quinnipiac with three consecutive victories in consolation play.
Sophomore Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) who put together a dominant run to the B flight finals only to fall in three sets in the title match last time out got right back in the win column on Friday, topping Sacred Heart freshman Taylor Gurda by a score of 6-4, 6-2. Keenan has been remarkably proficient in her one-plus fall campaigns at The Hall and now owns a 14-2 overall record in autumn matches.
Sher, Liljekvist, Portela and Keenan will all go up against opponents who received first round byes when play resumes on Saturday. In "1st Singles" the Hong Kong native draws Quinnipiac's Jackie Raynor. Keenan is matched up with Adesuwa Osabouhein of Stony Brook in "2nd singles" while Liljekvist and Portela get a chance at scoring some redemption for their teammates against a pair of Huskies.
Liljekvist squares off against Srna Stosljevic of Connecticut who previously handed Sher her first loss of 2013 at the QU Invite and Portela gets a crack at Emma Alderman who rallied to squeak by Keenan in the championship.
Freshman Julie Martiny (Brussels, Belgium) and junior Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) were both seeded in the "3rd Singles" bracket. Martiny received a bye and will face Albany's Pau Torres tomorrow while Shoemaker moved into the consolation draw after falling to Ariana Launie of Quinnipiac (4-6, 2-6).
She will take on Bryant's Lyan Juarbe in her first match on day two.
Junior Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) continued to roll with a win in her "4th Singles" match against Alexa Cohn (Stony Brook), dropping only two games en route to a convincing 6-1, 6-1 triumph. Like Portela, Guryanova has now won four consecutive matches after finishing consolation play undefeated at Quinnipiac.
Sophomore Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) received a bye into the round of 16 and will begin her tournament against Briana Leonard of Bryant.
While the conclusion of day one was certainly strong, the start was not exactly slow as a Pirate pair made a run to the quarterfinals in each of the two doubles brackets to kick off the tournament.
In "A Doubles", Portela and Sher made quick work of Marist's duo of Melissa Carlay and Katie Seitz in round one (8-3) before grinding out a victory over Sarah Ali and Ellie Ball of Fordham (8-7 (3)) to earn a spot in the final eight. Up against the Black Knights' sister act of Della and Elle Taylor playing on their home court, SHU's top pair couldn't find an edge and dropped a 2-8 decision.
Fresh off reaching the "A flight" finals in their first appearance as a team, Liljekvist and Shoemaker had their run cut short by a tough 7-8 (4) loss to Angie Dabu and Julie Leong (Fordham) in the opener.
Keenan and Martiny ousted the Saint Peter's team of Melian-Puigventos/Radovic in round one of "B Doubles" before stopping Shea Flanagan and Jen Learmonth (Connecticut) with an 8-5 win to move on to the quarters. Looking to advance to the semifinals for the second-straight tournament, Keenan and Martiny came up short against Cassandra Dix and Becky Shtilkind of Stony Brook.
Guryanova and Landert were also in action in the "B" bracket but couldn't get past Army's tandem of Maya Parker and Gabriella Spindler after a first round bye.
All eight Pirates will compete in singles on Saturday, seven in the main draw, and SHU will also be a part of consolation doubles on day two of three at the United States Military Academy.
For updates throughout the day, follow @SHU_Tennis on Twitter.
