Women's Tennis Tops Rutgers For Signature Victory
The NJIT women's tennis team rallied from losing its doubles point to defeat the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 5-2, Friday afternoon at the East Brunswick Racquet Club.
The victory was the Highlanders' first-ever over Rutgers (0-4 prior since 2015) and the program's first-ever win over a Power 5 school (ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12, SEC) since joining Division I in 2006-07.
"I am so proud of the ladies' performance today. We have been practicing hard and working on improving some things from last week and it was great to see them go out there and execute them the right way. We had a slow start in doubles but we were able to get out there and ended up being a better singles team. Great first win of the season over a good Big Ten opponent we have never beat before," first-year head coach Olaya Garrido-Rivas said after the victory.
The win over Rutgers was also Garrido-Rivas' first at NJIT and as a Division I head coach after taking over the Highlander program in the Fall semester after NJIT's pair of matches against Delaware and Southeastern Louisiana on November 5.
Rutgers (1-1) easily secured their initial point with doubles wins at the Nos. 2 and 1 flights and held a 4-2 advantage in the third.
Undeterred, the Highlanders bounced back with wins in five of six flights, the first time the team has accomplished that after losing doubles since a 6-1 home victory over Towson on March 3, 2019.
Grad student Advaita Saravanan tied the match for NJIT from No. 5 singles with a quick straight win (6-3, 6-1) and the Highlanders took a 3-1 lead after wins by junior Amira Badawi at No. 2 (6-1, 6-4) and sophomore Sandra Dzhambazov at No. 6 (2-6, 6-0, 6-1).
The Scarlet Knights briefly trimmed NJIT's lead to 3-2 after winning the No. 4 flight but the Highlanders clinched the match as junior Aya El Sayed - who was unable to play singles last week in the loss to Boston College - won at the No. 3, spot (6-4, 6-3) and senior Joleta Budiman set the final margin by outlasting Rutgers' Jackeline Lopez at the top of the lineup, 6-3, 7-5.
OTHER NOTES
NJIT holds a road win over current ACC member Pittsburgh from Feb. 12, 2012 (4-3) when Pitt was a member of the Big East Conference.
NEXT UP
NJIT returns to action next Friday, Feb. 4, with a road matchup at UPenn.
NJIT vs Rutgers
1/28/2022 at East Brunswick, NJ
(East Brunswick Racquet Club)
NJIT 5, Rutgers 2
Singles competition
1. Joleta Budiman (NJIT) def. Lopez, Jackeline (RU) 6-3, 7-5
2. Amira Badawi (NJIT) def. Fisher, Tess (RU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Aya El Sayed (NJIT) def. Kaplan, Sydney (RU) 6-4, 6-3
4. Cardenas, Daira (RU) def. Shalom Salvi (NJIT) 7-6 (7-1), 6-1
5. Advaita Saravanan (NJIT) def. Zahare, Kristiana (RU) 6-3, 6-1
6. Sandra Dzhambazov (NJIT) def. Kim, Minchae (RU) 2-6, 6-0, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Fisher, Tess/Kim, Minchae (RU) def. Joleta Budiman/Sandra Dzhambazov (NJIT) 6-1
2. Prinyarux, Alisa/Cardenas, Daira (RU) def. Shalom Salvi/Aya El Sayed (NJIT) 6-0
3. Brown, Chloe/Lopez, Jackeline (RU) vs. Amira Badawi/Advaita Saravanan (NJIT) 4-2, unfinished
Match Notes:
NJIT 1-1
Rutgers 1-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (5,2,6,4,3,1)