Rutgers University
Delaware
Tennis Begins Road Trip at Delaware on Friday
Feb 23 | Women's Tennis
Newark, Del. – The Rutgers women's tennis team (8-1) will travel to Newark, Delaware to take on the University of Delaware on Friday, Feb. 24 at 12 p.m. The match will be the first of five consecutive road contests for the Scarlet Knights.
Strong Start
Rutgers' 8-1 record is the best for the program since 2003.
The Scarlet Knights came out hot in the spring, starting off with a perfect 4-0 record. The team earned sweeps over Bucknell (7-0), Binghamton (7-0) in addition to wins against Drexel (6-1) and Army (5-2) for their first and best undefeated start since 2018.
Daira Cardenas is the only Scarlet Knights to go without dropping a match this spring, compiling a 4-0 singles record. Tara Chilton (8-1), Jackeline Lopez (7-1), Arina Valitova (5-1), Amira Badawi (3-1) and Minchae Kim (1-1) have also been solid on the court so far this slate.
Rutgers has also been solid in doubles, winning the first point in all but one match this season. Valitova and partner Lopez are a perfect 7-0 on the slate while Kim/Chloe Brown are also undefeated with a 2-0 mark.
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 Blue Hens
Delaware is 6-2 this spring and has won its last five matches. The Blue Hens are also 2-0 while playing home at the Delcastle Tennis Center. The team most recently earned a pair of victories last weekend over St. John's (6-1) and Monmouth (7-0).
Up Next
Rutgers will continue its road trip and begin Big Ten play, traveling to face Indiana on March 10 (1:30 p.m.) and Purdue on March 11 (12 p.m.)
Players Mentioned
