Seton Hall University
Fordham
Tennis Falls at Fordham in Finale
10/25/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
BRONX, N.Y. - Juniors Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) and Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) powered the Seton Hall tennis team with a pair of singles victories, but it was not enough as the Pirates' dropped their lone dual match of the fall season at Fordham, 5-2.
After garnering All-BIG EAST Team recognition last season, Liljekvist dominated from the #1 singles position. In her second career appearance in the position, she defeated the Rams' Ellie Ball, 6-3, 6-3. Liljekvist finishes the fall as one of the team's leaders in singles victories.
Keenan, who came off of two victorious efforts in the ITA Northeast Regional Championship last week, dominated Destiny Grunin with a 6-2, 6-1 win in the fifth spot. The junior led the Pirates in singles wins last year with 23 and will look to do more of the same this spring.
On the doubles side, the Pirates' combination of freshman Katie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii) and senior Madison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia) rolled at the #3 position. One of the new duos for The Hall this season, Kim and Shoemaker dominated with an 8-2 win over Fordham's Bella Genkina and Anika Novacek.
The Pirates were unable to get the doubles point, though, as Liljekvist and Keenan fell to Ball and Sarah Ali from the top position while freshmen Marisa Quevedo (Tyler, Texas) and Luize Liva Strike (Riga, Latvia) dropped an 8-3 contest to Ball and Julie Leong.
In other singles action, the Pirates narrowly missed out on scoring additional victories.
From the second position, Strike got off to a fast start, beating Ali in set one by a score of 6-1. The newcomer could not get over the hump, though, dropping sets two and three, 6-4 and 10-8.
Quevedo won a tight first set, 7-6, but could not get past Leong in the second with a 6-3 loss. The Texas native dropped the third, 10-5, but finishes a successful fall that saw her excel in both singles and doubles where she garnered a spot in the Northeast Regional.
Kim answered a first set loss with a 6-3 win in the second, but a 10-3 defeat at the hands of Estelle Wong gave the Rams another point.
Junior Isabell Klingert, (Oberbalbach, Germany) who was third for Gonzaga in her sophomore season with 13 individual victories in 18 appearances, was also in action in match that went the distance. The German native responded to a set one loss with a 6-2 victory before dropping the third, 10-6.
The Pirates will ready for the spring, looking to build upon last season's No. 6 seed in the BIG EAST Championship.
Seton Hall 2, Fordham 5
Doubles
#1: Ball/Ali (Fordham) def. Liljekvist/Keenan (Seton Hall) 8-2
#2: Ball/Leong (Fordham) def. Quevedo/Strike (Seton Hall) 8-3
#3: Kim/Shoemaker (Seton Hall) def. Genkina/Novacek (Fordham) 8-2
Singles
#1: Liljekvist (Seton Hall) def. Ball (Fordham) 6-3, 6-3
#2: Ali (Fordham) def. Strike (Seton Hall) 1-6, 6-4, 10-8
#3: Leong (Fordham) def. Quevedo (Seton Hall) 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-5
#4: Wong (Fordham) def. Kim (Seton Hall) 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-3
#5: Keenan (Seton Hall) def. Grunin (Fordham) 6-2, 6-1
#6: Sa (Fordham) def. Klingert (Seton Hall) 7-6(1), 2-6, 10-6
By John Fanta
For SHUPirates.com
