Day two of the women’s NJIT tennis tournament turned out to be very successful for the Pirates as they took home two single championships on Sunday, Jan. 25.
Seton Hall Athletics
The first title came from Luize Liva Strike, a freshman from Riga, Latvia. She dominated on her road to the championship dropping just one set in three matches. That one set loss came in the championship against Marnie Dans of LIU Brooklyn who ruined the all-Pirate final after defeating Pirate junior Hannah Liljekvist in three sets.
In the championship, the two traded sets with the similar 6-3 score line which proved the competition was fairly even and made for a very dramatic final decisive tiebreak. Strike dominated in that final tiebreak winning 10-4 to capture her first flight-A single title.
Up next was Isabell Klingert from Oberbalbach, Germany. The junior was also dominant throughout the tournament, even besting Strike by not dropping a single set the whole tournament. In the championship match Klingert faced her third Fordham opponent, Destiny Grunin. It was easy for Grunin as she claimed the C flight single title in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
The Pirates were not so victorious in the doubles bracket, as both Hannah Liljekvist and Julia Keenan made it all the way to the championship match before falling to the Rams top duo of Sarah Ali and Elliesa Ball.
The Pirates closed out the weekend victorious however, winning in the consolation bracket. Madison Shoemaker from Halfmoon Bay, B.C., Canada and Katie Kim from Honolulu, Hawaii stung together three straight victories to bring the Seton Hall victory total to 17 for the opening weekend.
Up next for the Pirates is a trip to West Point where they will begin the dual match portion of their schedule. They will take on Army and Binghamton on consecutive days on Saturday, Jan. 31 and Sunday, Feb. 1.
Sydney Kpundeh can be reached at Sydney.kpundeh@student.shu.edu.
