Rutgers University
Southern
Tennis Wraps Up Nonconference Play Against Southern on Saturday
Mar 17 | Women's Tennis
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The Rutgers women's tennis team (8-5, 0-3 B1G) will continue its time in New Orleans, Louisiana and wrap up nonconference play against Southern University (1-9, 1-2 SWAC) on Saturday, March 18 at 12 p.m. ET.
Last Time Out
In its most recent outing on March 15, Rutgers (8-5, 0-3 B1G) was tripped by No. 16 Wisconsin (12-2, 3-0 B1G), 5-2.
The Badgers claimed the doubles point before the Scarlet Knights picked up a pair of singles wins.
Tara Chilton earned a victory on the second court, battling in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (6). She is now 9-4 on court No. 2 and has won seven of her last 10 matches. Amira Badawi also earned the victory on court No. 3 in three sets, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. She is 4-2 on the third court and 6-2 overall.
Strong Start
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.
Chilton leads RU with a 9-4 singles record, playing all 13 matches on the second court. Jackeline Lopez has also been solid at the top lineup spot with a 7-5 mark.
Rutgers has also been strong in doubles, winning the first point in eight matches this season. Valitova and partner Jackeline Lopez are 7-2 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 Jaguars
Southern dropped its first nine matches of the season before picking up its first win against Bethune-Cookman on March 3, 7-0.
Kai Wince leads the team with a 2-1 record in singles, with victories on the fourth and sixth courts.
Up Next
Rutgers stay in New Orleans as the team takes on Southern University on Saturday, March 18 at 11 a.m.
Players Mentioned
