Rutgers University
Michigan State
Tennis to Face Michigan State in Big Ten Tournament First Round
Apr 25 | Women's Tennis
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The No. 13-seeded Rutgers women's tennis team (10-12, 1-10 B1G) will face No. 12 Michigan State (9-13, 2-9 B1G) in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday, April 26 at 12 p.m. The tournament, hosted by Purdue, will take place in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The stage is set 👀
— Rutgers Tennis (@RutgersTennis) April 23, 2023
Rutgers will open the 2023 #B1GWTEN Tournament against Michigan State on Wednesday, April 26 at noon!#GoRU | #RTennis https://t.co/DYKDF11Vc5
Last Time Out
Rutgers ended the regular season last weekend after falling to No. 9 Ohio State and No. 62 Penn State in a pair of 4-0 decisions.
Despite the outcome, against the Buckeyes on April 22, the pair of Tara Chilton/Amira Badawi defeated the 28th-ranked pair from the Buckeyes in a dominating 6-1 decision on the first court. The victory marks the pairs' first victory on the top court and first over a nationally ranked duo.
VICTORY‼️
— Rutgers Tennis (@RutgersTennis) April 22, 2023
Tara Chilton and Amira Badawi defeat the 28th ranked pair from #9 Ohio State on the first doubles court 👏#GoRU | #RTennis pic.twitter.com/mKA4g5acdq
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.
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 Spartans
Michigan State was on a six-match slide, ranging from the end of March to the middle of April, before ending the season with a 4-3 win over then-No. 60 Penn State. The Spartans' only other Big Ten win came against Minnesota (4-0).
Liisa Vehvilainen paces the team with nine singles wins playing on the first three courts. Juliette Nask also ranks near the top with eight wins on the middle four courts. In doubles, Vehvilainen and partner Ayshe Can lead the team with a 10-6 mark on court No. 1.
Up Next
The winner of Wednesday's match will go onto face No. 5 Northwestern on Thursday, April 27 at noon.
