The Seton Hall women’s team completed action at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast Championship at Yale on Sunday, earning victories in both singles and doubles play.
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Juniors Julia Keenan and Hannah Liljekvist along with freshmen Luize Liva Strike and Maisa Quevedo represented the team.
The action started on Thursday in Connecticut, as Keenan dropped only two games in her opening round qualifying match. Keenan swept the first set and needed only two games over the minimum in the second to move on to the final qualifying round. It was her seventh victory of the fall season.
Freshman Marisa Quevedo was in action on Thursday as well. However, she dropped a straight-set decision to Shreya Pasricha of Fairleigh Dickinson. Quevedo answered to a first set loss by taking lead in the second frame, but again fell, 3-6, 4-6.
A doubles victory from Keenan and Liljekvist was the highlight of day two action for the squad. The duo finished scoring an 8-7 (6) win to advance to the round of 32 in the opening round of main draw doubles competition
On Saturday, Liljekvist and Strike highlighted the day, both scoring main draw singles victories. This advanced them to the round of 64 in impressive fashion.
Liljekvist took the first set from Quinnipiac's Jacqueline Raynor, 6-4, but Raynor came back to capture the second in a tiebreak. In the decisive set, Liljekvist conquered the course of play dropping only one game to earn the right to move on.
In the round of 64 against Boston College’s Lexi Borr, Liljekvist fell in straight sets and was eliminated from the main draw, but since she came off a spring in which she earned All-BIG EAST honors, she completed the tournament portion of the fall schedule as one of the team’s most successful in posting individual victories.
Strike needed two sets to get past Aarzoo Malik of the University of Massachusettes in the first round, winning 6-4, 6-1. Kana Daniel of the University of Pennsylvania presented a tougher challenge in the next round for Strike, but the standout freshman rallied from a one set deficit to claim the second, 6-4. However, Daniel would eventually prevail posting a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3 triumph.
Julia Keenan, who was within one victory of earning the Pirates three entrants in the main draw, registered her second singles win of the weekend with a 6-4, 4-6 10-8 result over Sarah Stuhlman of Fairfield on Sunday. With a walk over in the next round, Keenan went up against Margarita Kotok of Buffalo but ultimately dropped a 7-5, 6-2 decision.
The team will finish up its fall season with their first dual match of 2014-2015 at Fordham this upcoming Saturday, October 25th.
Olivia Mulvihill can be reached at Olivia.mulvihill@student.shu.edu
