Sixth-seeded Pirates to battle #3 St. John's in BIG EAST quarterfinals Friday
Junior Hannah Liljekvist owns an unblemished 2-0 record at the BIG EAST Championship after recording two singles victories in her debut last season
April 23, 2015
2015 Championship Entries
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's tennis team kicks off its title chase on Friday afternoon in Indianapolis, taking on third-seeded St. John's in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 BIG EAST Championship presented by New York Life.
The Hall (7-11, 2-5 BIG EAST) enters the conference tournament as the sixth seed for the second consecutive season after splitting its final eight matches of the regular season. The Red Storm (12-8, 5-1 BIG EAST) previously downed the Pirates to ignite a current three-match winning streak, the fourth of five victories for the squad in six outings against conference foes this spring.
The Pirates dropped their final three matches of the regular season, all of which came against teams seeded in the top-four of this week's championship field, but owns league wins over Villanova and a Providence team that earned its way into the quarterfinals by ousting Creighton in Thursday's opening round action.
Eighth-year head coach Greg Wyzykowski's squad will be looking to build upon last year's trip to the BIG EAST Championship in which SHU followed a loss to eventual runner-up Xavier with a shutout of Butler to close the season.
Junior Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) has thrived in her first season atop the singles lineup and will once again occupy the #1 spot after recording 11 singles wins during the spring. Liljekvist led The Hall with two victories at the 2014 championship and is slated to square off against Anna Morozova once again after the two went the distance nearly two weeks ago.
Liljekvist/Morozova is one of four slated rematches from the regular season meeting between the two rivals as freshman Luize Strike (Riga, Latvia) will get another crack at Anastasia Polyakova after being forced to retire in their second singles matchup. Strike has battled injuries throughout 2015 but owns 13 individual wins in her first campaign for the blue & white.
Junior Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) hasalso recorded 13 victories in 2014-15 and will look to upend Natallia Vavulina from the third spot after falling in straight sets earlier this month.
Freshman Marisa Quevedo (Tyler, Texas) has been penciled into the fourth position where she will square off with Stephanie Elgegren who handed junior Isabell Klingert (Oberbalbach, Germany) her first BIG EAST loss when the Red Storm visited Newark for Seton Hall Senior Day. Quevedo has picked up five victories on the singles court this spring and is just one win away from becoming the seventh Pirate to reach double-digits this season.
Klingert has been one of the most productive players in the conference from her post in the bottom half of the lineup, registering team-leading marks of 21 overall victories, 13 dual match wins and four triumphs against conference foes in her first season since transferring from Gonzaga University. The pre-match entries have Klingert at #5, pitted against freshman Zofia Stanisz who claimed a battle of newcomers against Quevedo in the previous meeting.
Rookies Katie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Jaide Collins delivered a back-and-forth affair at #6 during the regular season and the two are on track to meet in their respective conference championship debuts. Kim notched The Hall's lone point during a recent road swing that took the Pirates to top-seeded DePaul and #4 Marquette, adding a third conference win to her collection of 14 overall singles victories.
The Pirates nearly took the doubles point from the Red Storm with Klingert and Strike earning a win at #3 that was nearly followed by a first doubles triumph from Liljekvist and Keenan. Morozova and Vavulina ultimately edged the pair of juniors in a tiebreak to clinch the point but The Hall proved the ability to jump out to an early advantage which could prove pivotal on Friday.
Should The Hall advance, the Pirates will play the winner of the match between second-seeded Xavier and the Friars for the right to move on to the title match.
Start-time for women's action is scheduled for Noon on Friday with all eight teams remaining in the main draw scheduled to take the court simultaneously.
Follow @SHU_Tennis and @BIGEASTChamps on Twitter throughout the tournament for updates.
http://www.shupirates.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/042315aac.html
Junior Hannah Liljekvist owns an unblemished 2-0 record at the BIG EAST Championship after recording two singles victories in her debut last season
April 23, 2015
2015 Championship Entries
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall women's tennis team kicks off its title chase on Friday afternoon in Indianapolis, taking on third-seeded St. John's in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 BIG EAST Championship presented by New York Life.
The Hall (7-11, 2-5 BIG EAST) enters the conference tournament as the sixth seed for the second consecutive season after splitting its final eight matches of the regular season. The Red Storm (12-8, 5-1 BIG EAST) previously downed the Pirates to ignite a current three-match winning streak, the fourth of five victories for the squad in six outings against conference foes this spring.
The Pirates dropped their final three matches of the regular season, all of which came against teams seeded in the top-four of this week's championship field, but owns league wins over Villanova and a Providence team that earned its way into the quarterfinals by ousting Creighton in Thursday's opening round action.
Eighth-year head coach Greg Wyzykowski's squad will be looking to build upon last year's trip to the BIG EAST Championship in which SHU followed a loss to eventual runner-up Xavier with a shutout of Butler to close the season.
Junior Hannah Liljekvist (Djursholm, Sweden) has thrived in her first season atop the singles lineup and will once again occupy the #1 spot after recording 11 singles wins during the spring. Liljekvist led The Hall with two victories at the 2014 championship and is slated to square off against Anna Morozova once again after the two went the distance nearly two weeks ago.
Liljekvist/Morozova is one of four slated rematches from the regular season meeting between the two rivals as freshman Luize Strike (Riga, Latvia) will get another crack at Anastasia Polyakova after being forced to retire in their second singles matchup. Strike has battled injuries throughout 2015 but owns 13 individual wins in her first campaign for the blue & white.
Junior Julia Keenan (Greenland, N.H.) hasalso recorded 13 victories in 2014-15 and will look to upend Natallia Vavulina from the third spot after falling in straight sets earlier this month.
Freshman Marisa Quevedo (Tyler, Texas) has been penciled into the fourth position where she will square off with Stephanie Elgegren who handed junior Isabell Klingert (Oberbalbach, Germany) her first BIG EAST loss when the Red Storm visited Newark for Seton Hall Senior Day. Quevedo has picked up five victories on the singles court this spring and is just one win away from becoming the seventh Pirate to reach double-digits this season.
Klingert has been one of the most productive players in the conference from her post in the bottom half of the lineup, registering team-leading marks of 21 overall victories, 13 dual match wins and four triumphs against conference foes in her first season since transferring from Gonzaga University. The pre-match entries have Klingert at #5, pitted against freshman Zofia Stanisz who claimed a battle of newcomers against Quevedo in the previous meeting.
Rookies Katie Kim (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Jaide Collins delivered a back-and-forth affair at #6 during the regular season and the two are on track to meet in their respective conference championship debuts. Kim notched The Hall's lone point during a recent road swing that took the Pirates to top-seeded DePaul and #4 Marquette, adding a third conference win to her collection of 14 overall singles victories.
The Pirates nearly took the doubles point from the Red Storm with Klingert and Strike earning a win at #3 that was nearly followed by a first doubles triumph from Liljekvist and Keenan. Morozova and Vavulina ultimately edged the pair of juniors in a tiebreak to clinch the point but The Hall proved the ability to jump out to an early advantage which could prove pivotal on Friday.
Should The Hall advance, the Pirates will play the winner of the match between second-seeded Xavier and the Friars for the right to move on to the title match.
Start-time for women's action is scheduled for Noon on Friday with all eight teams remaining in the main draw scheduled to take the court simultaneously.
Follow @SHU_Tennis and @BIGEASTChamps on Twitter throughout the tournament for updates.
http://www.shupirates.com/sports/w-tennis/spec-rel/042315aac.html
