Players Mentioned
Tennis Opens Northeast Regional Thursday
10/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - Coming off a successful trip to the Navy Blue & Gold Invitational, the Seton Hall tennis team will send four team members to the prestigious United States Tennis Association (USTA)/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Regional Championship this weekend.
Hosted by Yale, the invitation-only event features a selection of the top players from throughout the area and plays a major factor in deciding the regional rankings heading into the spring season.
Last fall, seniors Rocio Portela and Chloe Sher advanced to the round of 16 in doubles competition and were rewarded with a #9 regional ranking when the listing was released in January.
Representing the Pirates this season will be a quartet that includes two juniors in Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) and 2014 All-BIG EAST honoree Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) as well as two impact newcomers in freshmen Marisa Quevedo (Tyler, Texas) and Luize Liva Strike (Riga, Latvia).
Liljekvist and Strike earned main draw singles berths while Keenan and Quevedo will begin play on Thursday evening as part of the qualifying draw.
This is the second consecutive year that Liljekvist has received a selection in singles and doubles but an injury forced her out of the competition a year ago.
Both Keenan and Quevedo will be in search of the two victories needed to capture one of eight qualifying spots.
A late insertion into the top half of the bracket, Keenan will open her tournament against Boston University junior Kim McCallum who dropped all three of her singles matches at the Brown Invitational in late September; the Terriers only competition to this point in the year.
Quevedo draws a matchup with Fairleigh Dickinson sophomore Shreya Pasricha in her first matchup as part of the bottom half of the bracket. Coincidentally, Keenan previously took on Pasricha at the West Point Invitational and came away with a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
The final round of qualifying singles will be held on Friday morning and should both Keenan and Quevedo advance; The Hall could be one of just three non-Ivy League programs with as many as four main draw entrants.
A pair of local rivals awaits Keenan as the Greenland native will need to get past either Fairleigh Dickinson's Nicole Chis or Mariam Zein of Rutgers in the second round while Quevedo will potentially face off with Zaina Zaki of Connecticut or Yale's Caroline Lynch with a main draw berth on the line.
The main draw bracket of 128 will be finalized upon the completion of qualifying play.
This weekend's competition will also include doubles competition the tandems of Liljekvist/Keenan and Quevedo/Strike will represent Seton Hall in the field of 64 against the premier pairings in the area.
The first two rounds of doubles will be held on Friday with one round to be held each subsequent day until a champion is crowned on Tuesday, October 21.
For updates on this evening's qualifying action from New Haven, follow @SHU_Tennis on Twitter and check back on SHUPirates.com.
