The fall season is almost over for the Seton Hall women’s tennis team with one final tournament to prepare them for the spring portion.
The meat of the team’s schedule is from late January to mid-April, where the Pirates will play in 19 different matches, including the Big East Championship. The fall season serves more as a tune up for what is to come, but it is still important, as it shortens the offseason and makes sure that players will be as rusty when it comes time for the grueling spring season.
The Pirates performed well in their first two matches of the season with sophomore Regina Pitts winning the “A” singles tournament at the Navy Invitational.
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Photo via SHU Athletics[/caption]
The ITA Northeast Regional provided a different type of challenge for the Pirates. Melody Taal, Hermehr Kaur, and Pitts were all fortunate enough to represent the Pirates at this invitational hosted in West Point, N.Y.
38 teams in total competed in the event which was held last week. Of the Pirates represented, Pitts had the best showing, after winning her first round match over Mouna Bouzgarrou of NJIT, 6-4, 6-1, before being narrowly upended by Fordham’s Arina Taluyenko 6-4, 6-4. Taal also held her own, but couldn’t break through, against Valeria Deminova, also of Fordham. Meanwhile, Kaur competed with Pitts in doubles in an exciting and well fought battle, just barely falling to a duo from Niagara, 8-7 (6).
“It’s really exciting to get into that tournament, because you’re playing with some of the best players from not even just the Big East, but a bunch of different schools,” Pitts said.
This tournament will undoubtedly not only serve as not only a great experience for those involved but also as a confidence builder that they can compete at a high level for the remainder of the season.
“Obviously [we want] to win Big East,” Pitts said. “We were so close last year. I don’t think we performed at the level we thought we were going to at the actual tournament, so with the new players, I think we’ll be well prepared.”
Mat Mlodzinski can be reached at matthew.mlodzinski@student.shu.edu. Find him on Twitter @Mlodzinski_15.
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