NEWPORT, R.I. — The Rutgers women’s tennis team is set to open the fall 2023 campaign at the Hall of Fame Invitational in Newport, Rhode Island, from September 15-17.
The Scarlet Knights will face off in doubles teams against six other schools including Brown, George Washington, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Providence, and Rhode Island. The two doubles teams that will represent RU are Daira Cardenas and Arina Valitova, as well as Chloe Brown and Minchae Kim.
The tournament will begin play on Friday at 4 PM ET.
Recapping the 2023 Spring
The Scarlet Knights finished the 2023 spring season with an 11-13 record. The campaign was highlighted by a 9-2 nonconference record, earning wins in the first four matches of the year.
Following a challenging conference slate that consisted of nine ranked opponents, Rutgers earned the No. 13 seed in the 14-team bracket in the 2023 Big Ten Women’s Tennis Tournament.
The Scarlet Knights opened the tournament with a match against No. 12-seeded Michigan State, earning a 5-1 victory. The first round win marked the first Big Ten Tournament win for head coach Hilary Ritchie since she was elevated to the position in 2016.
The team’s spring campaign ended in the tournament with a 4-1 loss to No. 5-seeded Northwestern.
National Recognition
Following the 2022-23 campaign, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) named Amira Badawi the 2023 ITA Northeast Region Cissie Leary Sportsmanship Award Recipient, making the transfer the second Scarlet Knight to receive the award.
Each year, the ITA Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship is given to a Division I women’s tennis athlete who shows inspiring dedication and commitment to her team, which has enhanced her team’s performance and exemplified the spirit of college tennis. The honor dates back to 1997 and is in memory of the late and widely admired Penn women’s tennis coach Cissie Leary.
New Kids ‘On The Banks’
RU welcomed two new additions to the squad this offseason, graduate student Yana Gurevich and freshman Naomi Karki.
Gurevich spent four years at UC Davis before coming to join the Scarlet Knights. The Los Gatos, Calif. native announced her decision to finish her collegiate career ‘On the Banks’ in November 2022.
During her successful four-year career with her former team, Gurevich recorded a 44-30…
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