After a weekend that saw the Pirates make three stops across New Jersey, the Seton Hall tennis team came away with two wins.
The weekend did not start all that well, as the Pirates suffered a 7-0 loss to Princeton at Jadwin Gymnasium on Friday. For Seton Hall, it was their third loss in a row.
The Pirates were unable to come away with a victory in doubles play. Hannah Liljekvist and Madison Shoemaker came close, but lost to Emily Hahn and Amanda Muliawan 8-6 in the No. 2 position.
Julia Keenan and Alex Landert fought hard as well, falling to Caroline Joyce and Dorothy Tang 8-5 in the No. 3 position. Additionally, Rocio Portela and Chloe Sher were taken down by Princeton's Lindsay Graff and Joan Cannon.
Singles play was no better for The Hall, as Princeton took all six matches in straight-sets for the shutout win.
"Playing a strong team like Princeton really helped us see what we need to do better," Shoemaker said. "They didn't do anything special, they just played more consistent and smarter tennis."
The team came back strong against Fairfield Saturday, beating the Stags 4-0. It was The Hall's fourth victory of the season.
Julia Keenan and Julie Martiny, both underclassmen, took down partners Kalia Nelson and Carolina Koladzyn 8-4 to kick off doubles play.
Liljekvist and Shoemaker then beat Tori Pirrello and Sharissa Ryan 8-6. It was the duo's tenth win together in 2013-2014.
Liljekvist's and Shoemaker's win clinched the doubles point, ending Portela's and Cher's match while in progress.
From there, Seton Hall dominated singles play. Sher, Keenan, and Shoemaker all recorded wins. In total, four matches went unfinished on the day against Fairfield.
On Sunday, the Pirates beat Albany, but it was not easy. For the second time this spring, the Pirates had to overcome a 3-0 nothing deficit behind four singles wins.
Albany got off to an early lead, taking the doubles point. Liljekvist and Shoemaker lost to Albany's Cheryl Kukkonen and Alba Sala 8-4 while Keenan and Martiny lost to Paulina Torres and Mireille Hermans 8-2.
In singles play, it was all Seton Hall. Sher won 3-0 after Rocio Lopez was forced to retire in the No. 1 slot. Liljekvist then defeated Hermans 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Portela ousted Kukkonen after dropping the first set, winning 6-7 (3), 6-0, 6-3. Keenan won her match as well to complete the 4-3 comeback, defeating Kirsten Scott 6-2, 6-4.
The Pirates came out of the weekend with a season record of 5-4. Shoemaker believed it was the team's attitude that allowed them to rally back after Friday's loss.
"I think it was important for the team not to get discouraged and down on ourselves after a tough match on Friday," she said. "We stayed positive and went into Saturday and Sunday's matches believing in ourselves. It was important for us to quickly forget about the loss and learn from it and move on to the next match and we did that."
Their next match will be in Providence, as The Hall takes on the Friars before a spring break trip to Puerto Rico.
Gary Phillips can be reached at gary.phillips@student.shu.edu.
