Women's Tennis Wins Tenth Straight With Senior Day Victory Over Temple

The wins just keep on coming.

The NJIT women's tennis team won its tenth consecutive match and honored its seniors with a hard-fought 4-3 win over the Temple Owls Friday evening at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Recreational Facility.

The Highlanders now have their second-ever double-digit Division I win streak, second behind the program record 14 win streak during the 2011-12 season that saw NJIT repeat as Great West Conference Tournament champions.

"The Temple Women's tennis team is an extremely accomplished group of tennis players that gave us some amazing competition today. Each member of our team that stepped on the court today played extremely hard. The work ethic, from start to finish of an almost five-hour match, was impressive. This team supports each other and believes in each other and everyone played well today," head coach Patricia Piokowski McDonald proclaimed after the victory.

NJIT went down 0-1 after doubles were decided by the No. 3 flight that was won by the visitors. Straight set wins at Nos. 3 and 4 singles helped the Highlanders take the lead, 2-1, before Temple won the top flight and tied the match at 2-2.

NJIT regained the lead at 3-2 after getting a three-set win at No. 2 but Temple knotted the match up again at No. 6, forcing the match into a winner-take-all situation at No. 5. Menendez Alvarez went down one, tied the flight by winning the second set, and mounted a furious comeback from down 5-1 in the third set to keep the winning streak alive.

OTHER NOTES
Before the game, NJIT honored senior Sandra Dzhambazov and grad student Sofia Pinedo with a Senior Day celebration. Senior Shalom Salvi will be returning for her final year in 2024-25.

NEXT UP
NJIT will be on the road for the remainder of the season, beginning with their three-match Spring Break Southland trip (Mar. 12 at Incarnate Word, Mar. 14 at Lamar, Mar. 15 at Northwestern State).

NJIT 4, Temple 3
3/8/2024 at Newark, NJ (Naimoli Center)
Singles competition
1. T. F. Kawaratani (TEM) def. Laura Wipfli (NJIT) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4
2. Sofia Pinedo (NJIT) def. Maiko Uchijima (TEM) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
3. Shalom Salvi (NJIT) def. Samantha Nanere (TEM) 6-2, 6-1
4. Irene Cocero (NJIT) def. Jessie Zheng (TEM) 6-3, 6-2
5. Pa. Menendez Alvarez (NJIT) def. M. Christoforidou (TEM) 4-6, 7-6, 7-5
6. Evie Wei (TEM) def. Feyza Aydin (NJIT) 2-6, 6-2, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Laura Wipfli/Irene Cocero (NJIT) def. Maiko Uchijima/Samantha Nanere (TEM) 6-2
2. Evie Wei/Jessie Zheng (TEM) def. Shalom Salvi/Pa. Menendez Alvarez (NJIT) 6-4
3. M. Christoforidou/Vineetha Mummadi (TEM) def. Sofia Pinedo/Lusia Hepcal Barcan (NJIT) 7-5

Match Notes
Temple 6-3
NJIT 11-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,1,2,6,5)