Seton Hall University
Villanova
Tennis Wins Seventh-Straight over Villanova
3/22/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
NEWARK, N.J. - The Seton Hall tennis team picked up its first BIG EAST victory of the season and its second-straight overall on Sunday afternoon, easing past longtime rival Villanova, 5-2.
The Hall (5-7, 1-1 BIG EAST) has now won seven-straight meetings with the Wildcats and prevailed on Sunday by recording four singles wins after claiming the doubles point to open the contest.
The Pirates dropped only three games in the top two doubles positions to clinch a 1-0 advantage heading into singles play. JuniorsHannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden)andJulia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.)controlled their #1 matchup with Kate Pettee and Samantha Schafer and came away with an 8-2 victory.
SeniorMadison Shoemaker (Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia)and freshmanKatie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii)followed suit with an 8-1 result over Victoria Martinez and Alexandra Kroguis, moving The Hall ahead on the team scoreboard.
Seton Hall has now averaged nearly two doubles wins over its last seven dual matches as Pirate tandems have combined for 13 victories over the stretch including four apiece for the tandems of Keenan/Liljekvist and Kim/Shoemaker.
SeniorAnna Guryanova (Moscow, Russia)helped stretch the lead to two, posting her fifth consecutive straight-set win in sixth singles with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph over Aphrah Brokaw.
Guryanova, who has made her most appearances in the singles lineup since amassing a 6-4 record as a freshman, remains unbeaten in a head-to-head setting and has lost more than four games in a match just once in 2015.
Kim put SHU within one point of securing the team victory with a similarly convincing performance against Kroguis at #3, winning 6-3, 6-1. Kim has now won in consecutive dual matches for the first time in her brief career after contributing to a 9-0 shutout of Vanguard and the Pirates are 3-1 overall when the Honolulu native adds a singles point.
The Wildcats pulled to within one with point-scoring efforts at #2 and #4 but the junior Liljekvist put the outcome out of question by scoring a three-set win from the top singles spot. Now 9-4 at #1 this season after winning her lone first singles match a year ago, Liljekvist split the first two sets with Tori Smyth but needed just two over the minimum in the decisive frame to seal a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 triumph.
Liljekvist improved to 6-1 in her last seven outings with the result and has come out on top in three consecutive matches that have been extended to a third and final set.
Standout juniorIsabell Klingert (Oberbalbach, Germany)closed out the conference win with a 6-2, 6-2 showing against Pettee at #5. The Pirates wins leader overall (18) and in dual match play (10), Klingert moved to an impressive 13-1 this spring and 4-0 when penciled into the fifth position.
Klingert and Liljekvist each also moved to 2-0 against BIG EAST competition after previously booking singles points in a one-point loss to Georgetown whileGuryanova and Kim earned their first league wins.
Sunday's result continued a trend that has seen Seton Hall establish control of the series with the Wildcats as over the current seven match winning streak; the Pirates have out-scored Villanova by a combined total of 21-to-7.
The Hall will look to continue its winning ways next week when the squad will take on two more conference foes in Xavier (3/27) and Providence (3/29) over a three-day stretch.
Seton Hall - 5 Villanova - 2
Doubles
#1. Keenan/Liljekvist (SHU) def. Pettee/Schafer (VU), 8-2
#2. Kim/Shoemaker (SHU) def. Kroguis/Martinez (VU), 8-1
#3. Bajet/Busby (VU) def. Klingert/Quevedo (SHU), 8-4
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
#1. Hannah Liljekvist (SHU) def. Tori Smyth (VU), 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
#2. Samantha Schafer (VU) def. Marisa Quevedo (SHU), 7-6 (2), 6-4
#3. Katie Kim (SHU) def. Alexandra Kroguis (VU), 6-3, 6-1
#4. Paulina Bajet (VU) def. Julia Keenan (SHU), 6-4, 6-4
#5. Isabell Klingert (SHU) def. Kate Pettee (VU), 6-2, 6-2
#6. Anna Guryanova (SHU) def. Aphrah Brokaw (VU), 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish: 6, 3, 2, 4, 1, 5
