Rutgers University
Indiana
Tennis to Open B1G Play at No. 75 Indiana and No. 50 Purdue
Mar 09 | Women's Tennis
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Rutgers women's tennis team (8-2, 0-0 B1G) will kickoff Big Ten play this weekend with back-to-back matches against No. 75 Indiana (8-4, 0-1 B1G) on Friday, March 10 (1:30 p.m.) and No. 50 Purdue (9-0, 0-0 B1G) on Saturday, March 11 (12 p.m.)
.@bigten opener 🔜
— Rutgers Tennis (@RutgersTennis) March 6, 2023
Rutgers in back on the court this weekend as the team opens Big Ten play at Indiana and Purdue over the weekend 👏#GoRU | #RTennis pic.twitter.com/fDOj9hCSe5
Last Time Out
Rutgers fell to Delaware on Friday, Feb. 24 on the road, 5-2. The Blue Hens picked up the doubles point before winning singles matches on courts No. 1, 2, 4 and 6 to secure the match victory.
Amira Badawi got the win on the third court in three sets, 6-2, 4-6, 10-9. Arina Valitova also got the win at the fifth lineup spot, also in three sets, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. She is 6-0 at the No. 5 spot this season.
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.
Daira Cardenas is the only Scarlet Knights to go without dropping a match this spring, compiling a 4-0 singles record. Arina Valitova (6-1) and Amira Badawi (4-1) 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 two matches this season. Valitova and partner Jackeline Lopez are 7-1 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 Hoosiers
After going on a three-match winning streak with victories over Colorado (4-2), Western Michigan (4-0) and Belmont (5-2), Indiana dropped its most recent outing and first conference contest to Northwestern (2-5) to kick off the month of March.
Lara Schneider leads the team with a 6-2 mark at the top of the singles lineup. Saby Nihalani follows her up at the No. 2 position with a strong 7-1 record. Together, the pair is 8-1 in No. 1 doubles.
Looking Into the Boilermakers
Purdue started off the season hot, winning seven matches in a row before falling to Kentucky in the middle of February, 3-4. Since then, the team has picked up two more wins over Toledo (6-1) and Butler (4-1).
Csilla Fodor paces the team with an 8-1 singles mark playing at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. She is 6-0 in the third lineup spot. Kennedy Gibbs has also been solid at the No. 4 and No. 5, racking up an 8-2 record.
Up Next
Rutgers will head down to New Orleans, Louisiana to face Big Ten foe Wisconsin on Wednesday, March 15 (9:30 a.m.) followed by Southern on Saturday, March 18 (11 a.m.)
Players Mentioned
