NEWARK, N.J. --- The NJIT women's tennis team continued its strong start to the spring season with a 6-1 victory over the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights Friday evening at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Recreation Center.

The win keeps NJIT (3-0) undefeated and kicked off the Highlanders' six-match homestand on a positive note. 

As the team has done in its previous two matches, NJIT struck first by sweeping all three doubles matches. Freshman Adara Omar and senior Amanda Helminsky completed their No. 3 match first (6-3), fellow freshman/senior duo Mouna Bouzgarrou & Rafaella Sampaio clinched the point at No. 2 (6-2) and sophomore Holly Matson and freshman Joleta Budiman finished the session with a 6-2 win at No. 1.

Singles proved to be a bit more challenging overall for the Highlanders - three of the six matches went to three sets after none of their previous 12 saw a deciding set - but NJIT was still able to secure victory as a team before allowing FDU to record a point.

Sampaio and Bouzgarrou picked up where they left off in doubles by winning their singles matches in straight sets at No. 4 and No. 1, respectively. Budiman secured the win for NJIT at No. 2 singles, rallying from a close first set loss (5-7) to take the next two sets, 6-1, 6-0.

Omar and fellow freshman Shamika Dhar picked up the Highlanders' final two points as Omar won her No. 5 singles match, 6-4, 6-4, and Dhar gutted out a three-set win after dropping the first set, 6-1.

"We played a strong FDU team and credit to them for fighting across the board. I thought we had a good, complete team effort," head coach Zaki Abdelrahman said of the match. "Winning the doubles point in all our matches so far has made our job easier. I was happy to see the freshmen Nouna and Joleta leading our line up, earning their first wins and getting rid of the first match nerves. Shamika, Rafaella, and Adara continuing their undefeated seasons in singles and doubles is certainly a great thing. A lot of credit goes to Shamika, who show great fighting spirit and battled for over three hours in her singles match until she won." 

NJIT will end the weekend by hosting LIU Brooklyn on Sunday, February 3 at 2 p.m. at the Naimoli Center.


NJIT 6, Fairleigh Dickinson 1

Singles competition
1. Mouna Bouzgarrou (NJIT) def. EFTENOIU, Tatiana (FDU) 6-3, 6-1
2. Joleta Budiman (NJIT) def. RUSZCZYNSKA, Marta (FDU) 5-7, 6-1, 6-0
3. Shamika Dhar (NJIT) def. EFTENOIU, Patricia (FDU) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)
4. Rafaella Sampaio (NJIT) def. VLADESCU, Anamaria (FDU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Adara Omar (NJIT) def. VOROZHEIKINA, A. (FDU) 6-4, 6-4
6. SINGH, Smriti (FDU) def. Amanda Helminsky (NJIT) 0-6, 6-4, 10-5

Doubles competition
1. Holly Matson/Joleta Budiman (NJIT) def. EFTENOIU, Patricia/VOROZHEIKINA, A. (FDU) 6-2
2. Rafaella Sampaio/Mouna Bouzgarrou (NJIT) def. RUSZCZYNSKA, Marta/VLADESCU, Anamaria (FDU) 6-2
3. Adara Omar/Amanda Helminsky (NJIT) def. EFTENOIU, Tatiana/MENZEN, Carolin (FDU) 6-3

Match Notes
Fairleigh Dickinson 0-1
NJIT 3-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (4,1,2,5,6,3)