Rutgers University
UMass
Tennis to Welcome UMass for Saturday Evening Match
Feb 17 | Women's Tennis
EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. – The Rutgers women's tennis team (7-1) will host the UMass on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 5 p.m. at the East Brunswick Racquet Club.
The match will be live streamed via PlaySight.
Last Time Out
Rutgers hosted a trio of matches last weekend, picking up three wins. The team defeated Seton Hall (6-1) and LIU (4-0) in doubleheader action on Friday, Feb. 10 before defeating Fairleigh Dickinson (7-0) on Feb. 12.
RU picked up 17 singles victories led by Chloe Brown and Tara Chilton, who both went 3-0. The Scarlet Knights also dominated in doubles, winning the first point in all three matches.
Doubleheader = double wins 💪 #GoRU | #RTennis pic.twitter.com/vPtLuCL3mD
— Rutgers Tennis (@RutgersTennis) February 11, 2023
Strong Start
The Scarlet Knights came out hot in the spring, starting off with a perfect 4-0 record. The team earned wins over Bucknell (7-0), Binghamton (7-0), Drexel (6-1) and Army (5-2) for their first undefeated start since 2018. The Scarlet Knights' current 7-1 record is the best for the program since 2003.
Four Scarlet Knights remain undefeated this spring in Arina Valitova (5-0), Daira Cardenas (4-0) and Amira Badawi (3-0). Valitova has won all five matches at the No. 5 singles spot in straight-sets, allowing no more than four points in a set.
Just the beginning 👀#GoRU | #RTennis pic.twitter.com/wKz1cBgbjY
— Rutgers Tennis (@RutgersTennis) February 13, 2023
Rutgers has also been solid in doubles, winning the first point in all but one match this season. Valitova and partner Jackeline Lopez are a perfect 6-0 on the slate while Minchae Kim/Chloe Brown (2-0) and Brown/Badawi (1-0) are also undefeated.
Transferring In
RU welcomed two transfers this offseason in Amira Badawi (NJIT) and Tara Chilton (Washington).
Badawi, a native of Cairo, Egypt, compiled a 30-7 record with NJIT over two seasons, including an impressive 22-5 mark playing in the top three singles spots for the Highlanders in 2021-22, a season that ended with a second place showing in the Southland Conference Tournament.
In her two seasons at Washington, Chilton compiled an 18-18 singles and 17-14 doubles record. Last year as a sophomore, Chilton and the No. 37 Huskies played to a 14-12 overall record and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. She went 7-2 in singles tournament play including reaching the round of 32 at ITA Northwest Regional.
Freshmen Duo
Rutgers also welcomed two freshmen to the squad, Mai Nguyen and Arina Volitova.
Ranked top 75 nationally, Nguyen arrives "On The Banks" from Atlanta, Georgia. She was the 2019 Southern Doubles Champions and finished in fifth in National Doubles. She was also the 2020 Georgia State Champion and 2021 Winter Southerns Champions.
A product of Bratislava, Slovakia, Valitova comes to the US after finding success in the European Junior circuit. She won the ITF Juniors tournaments and Tennis Europe tournaments in both singles and doubles. Valitova also won the singles J5 in Islamabad in Nov. 2020 in addition to the singles J5 in Harare in Dec. 2020. In doubles, she came out on top in the J3 in Harare in Nov. 2021 and J4 in Estonia in May 2021. She is also a member of Russian National Beach Tennis Team (U18) and won the Juniors European Championship in doubles.
Scouting the Minutewomen
Massachusetts is 2-1 in the spring so far after dropping its season opener at Boston College (0-7). The Minutewomen have since won their last two matches, with victories at home over Siena (6-1) and Fairfield (6-1).
Melisa Sunil is 2-0 at the No. 1 singles spot with one loss at the second lineup spot. Danielle Hack is also 2-0 on the second court with one loss at the top lineup spot. Senil and partner Mariya Krasakova are 3-0 on the middle doubles court.
UMass will face Seton Hall on Friday before coming to the East Brunswick Racquet Club on Saturday.
Up Next
Next up, Rutgers will embark on a three-game road trip, starting with a contest at Delaware on Friday, Feb. 24 at 12 p.m.
Players Mentioned
