Women's Tennis Travels to Seton Hall on Saturday

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield University women's tennis team will travel to Mountainside, N.J. to compete against Seton Hall on Saturday, March 1 at the Mountainside Tennis Center. The first serve is set for 6pm.

Fairfield (3-2) vs. Seton Hall: Saturday's match will be the first dual that Fairfield and Seton Hall have played against one another since last year's match on March 2. In that contest, the Stags defeated the Pirates, 5-2, at the Stamford Indoor Tennis Club in Stamford, Conn. Fairfield and Seton Hall have already met this season at the ITA Regionals on October 18-20 and the NJIT Invitational on October 25-27. At the ITA Regionals, Stags duo Monica Yajima/Sharissa Ryan fell to Pirates' duo Sher/Berrios, 8-5. At the NJIT Invitational, Stephanie Ziegler fell to Seton Hall's Julie Martiny, 6-0, 6-1, while Fairfield pair Victoria Pirrello/Carolina Koladzyn fell, 8-0, to Pirates' pair Keenan/Landert.

A Look at the Pirates: Seton Hall is 3-3 on the season so far. The Pirates have defeated Binghamton, Saint Peter's, and NJIT and have fallen to Army, Navy, and DePaul. In their fall season, Seton Hall competed in five tournaments including the Quinnipiac Invitational, West Point Invitational, USTA Invitational, ITA Regionals, and the NJIT Invitational. The Pirates will be tested at Princeton on February 28 before competing against the Stags.

Last Time Out: The Stags defeated the Villanova Wildcats, 4-3, on February 21 at Stamford Indoor. After falling short of the doubles point, Fairfield came back strong in singles play. At the No. 1 spot, Yajima picked up the win over Villanova's Mikelle Mancini, 6-2, 6-2. At No. 2 singles, Ryan pulled a 6-2, 6-3, victory over Samantha Schafer. Junior Allison Radde downed the Wildcats' Linley Busby, 6-1, 6-0. The Wildcats battled, with Connor Brewer defeating Karen McKeough, 6-2, 7-5, in the No. 5 spot and Kate Pettee clipping Emma Samson, 6-3, 6-4, in the No. 6 spot. However, the Stags clinched the match when rookie Kaila Nelson defeated Tori Smyth, 7-5, 6-2, in the No. 4 slot.

Weekly Winner: Senior Monica Yajima was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Women's Tennis Player of the Week after leading the Stags to the victory over Villanova. At the No. 1 spot, Yajima defeated the Wildcats' Mikelle Mancini, 6-2, 6-2. Yajima then teamed up with Koladzyn to compete against Villanova's Mancini and Connor Brewer at the No. 1 doubles spot. The score was 5-7, when the match was called. So far this season, Yajima is 7-3 in singles play and 8-5 in doubles. The three-time MAAC Player of the Year has collected 127 combined victories over the last four seasons which is good for third all-time at Fairfield. She is 13 combined victories away from surpassing Dana Postupack for second all-time and 23 away from breaking Paulina Rys' record of 149.

Looking Ahead: Fairfield will continue action on the road, stopping at UConn on March 5 before returning home to host Lafayette on March 8.

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