Tennis Adds Liljekvist, Martiny for 2013-14
9/3/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Sep 3, 2013
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's tennis team has finalized its 2013-14 roster as head coach Greg Wyzykowski announced the additions of two newcomers - Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) and Julie Martiny (Brussels, Belgium) - to the eight-member squad.
Liljekvist comes to South Orange after spending a year at Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. during her freshman season. For the Gaels, she posted a number of wins in the fall highlighted by a run to the round of 16 in ITA Northwest Regional doubles competition; a stretch that included a victory over the #49 ranked duo in the country from the University of Washington. In the spring, she registered a key singles win in the team's match with conference rival Gonzaga and was also named to the WCC Commissioner's Honor Roll for academic excellence.
Prior to joining SMC, she was ranked as high as the top-40 in the Swedish national rankings and was recognized as one of the country's top-14 players in her age group.
Another in a long line of quality players that has crossed borders to join the Seton Hall tennis program during Wyzykowski's seven-year tenure, Martiny signed on to become a Pirate after a successful run in her native Belgium. She attended Lycee Mater Dei in her hometown of Brussels, and competed in interclub competitions as well as a number of tournaments. A former captain of her team, she won six of her first nine matches last spring in her final months before coming to The Hall.
Liljekvist and Martiny will add depth to a squad that is unquestionably led by its pair of distinguished seniors in Chloe Sher (Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong) and Rocio Portela (Demetrio Vega Baja, Puerto Rico).
One of the winningest players in program history, Sher has been named to the All-BIG EAST Tennis Team in each of the last two seasons and has finished as the Pirates' leader in victories in all three of her years on campus. Portela has routinely competed in one of the team's top-two singles positions and is coming off perhaps the most productive spring of her career which she capped off with a win over Diamond Adams of St. John's at the BIG EAST Tournament.
Together, Sher and Portela rank as the top doubles team in school history in terms of career victories.
Juniors Anna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia) and Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) will assume a larger role in year three of their collegiate careers as the Pirates look to make their mark in the first year of a new-look BIG EAST Conference.
Guryanova posted the best singles winning percentage (.687) on the squad in 2012-13, due in large part to an exceptional fall season in which she went 9-2 and claimed individual titles at both the Quinnipiac and Bill and Sandra Moore Invitational.
Shoemaker's 15 singles wins a year ago are bested only by Sher (21) among the six returning players for SHU. Her 13 doubles wins also placed her among the top-performers as the tandem of Sher and Portela (18 victories) were the only Pirates to manage more.
Shoemaker's primary doubles partner from a year ago was sophomore Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) who enters her second season after ranking fourth on the team with 14 singles wins as a freshman. She debuted with a near perfect fall, taking home titles from her first two collegiate tournaments and entering the winter break with a 10-1 overall record.
Classmate Alex Landert (Naples, Fla.) also returns after an impressive first year in blue & white, rounding out the 2013-14 squad. Landert advanced to the finals at the Quinnipiac Invitational in her first appearance and went on to post four consecutive victories at the Bill and Sandra Moore Invitational. During dual match competition, she contributed wins as part of team victories over Towson, Vanguard and Point Loma Nazarene.
The 2013-14 season will get underway on Friday, September 13 as the Pirates again open with a trip to the Quinnipiac Invitational. The three-day competition will carry through Sunday, September 15 in Hamden, Conn.
