NEWARK, N.J. --- The NJIT women's tennis team concluded its opening Spring weekend on Saturday evening, conceding a 6-1 defeat to the visiting Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Recreational Facility.

"Today was a hard-fought match for us, with two tiebreak losses at doubles and three singles matches going to a third set. It was a day of competitive matches all around for us, and it was great to see our women work so hard. We came up a little short today against a strong Rutgers team, but these performances are something we can build on," head coach Patrica Piorkowski McDonald said after the match. 

Sophomore Paula Menendez Alvarez picked up the Highlanders' lone point of the match, making strong adjustments after dropping her first set at the No. 6 flight and rallying to win after a third set tie break. Two of the three doubles flights went Rutgers' way at 7-6, showing how close NJIT was to flipping those and earning the doubles point.

NEXT UP
NJIT will hit the road for the first time this spring on Sunday, February 4 to face Rhode Island in Kingston, R.I.

Rutgers 6, NJIT 1
1/27/2024 at Naimoli Center (Newark, NJ)
Singles competition
1. Tara Chilton (RUTGERS) def. Laura Wipfli (NJIT) 6-4, 6-4
2. Jackeline Lopez (RUTGERS) def. Sandra Dzhambazov (NJIT) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
3. Yana Gurevich (RUTGERS) def. Sofia Pinedo (NJIT) 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 6-3
4. Mai Nguyen (RUTGERS) def. Shalom Salvi (NJIT) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
5. Minchae Kim (RUTGERS) def. Irene Cocero (NJIT) 6-2, 6-2
6. Pa. Menendez Alvarez (NJIT) def. Arina Valitova (RUTGERS) 3-6, 6-4, 10-8

Doubles competition
1. Tara Chilton/Yana Gurevich (RUTGERS) def. Laura Wipfli/Irene Cocero (NJIT) 7-6
2. Mai Nguyen/Minchae Kim (RUTGERS) def. Sandra Dzhambazov/Sofia Pinedo (NJIT) 6-2
3. Arina Valitova/Naomi Karki (RUTGERS) def. Shalom Salvi/Pa. Menendez Alvarez (NJIT) 7-6

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