The Rutgers women’s tennis team will compete in the ITA Regionals tournament from October 9 to 14 at the Hecht Tennis Center, hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. All nine student-athletes on the team will participate, aiming to qualify for the ITA Sectional Championships.
The team is seeking to build on its performance from last year’s ITA Regionals, where the doubles pair of Naomi Karki and Cindy Zhou reached the quarterfinals, placing in the top eight. Another duo, Zuzanna Frankowska and recent graduate Jackie Lopez, advanced to the Round of 16 in doubles.
Qualifying matches begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, with main draw singles and doubles set for Friday.
In their previous outing at the UNC Charlotte Invite held October 3-5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Rutgers played against UNC Charlotte and Virginia Tech. The team secured 14 wins over the weekend—five in singles and nine in doubles. The pair of Mai Nguyen and Naomi Karki remained undefeated during this event.
Mai Nguyen received regional recognition as she was named “Most Improved Player” in the Northeast by ITA. Ahead of the spring 2025 season, transfer student Zuzanna Frankowska was included on the Big Ten Women’s Tennis Players to Watch list, an honor limited to one player per program within the conference.
The roster has seen changes with head coach Hilary Ritchie adding three new players: freshmen Miranda Case from Haddonfield, New Jersey; Savannah Cohen from Westfield, New Jersey; and Stella Schmitz from Kaiserslautern, Germany. Case’s mother also played tennis for Rutgers between 1997 and 2001. Cohen compiled a 40-10 high school record and achieved a national ranking of 47 for her class according to Tennis Recruiting. Schmitz is a four-time state champion with high finishes in ITF competitions and a top-10 national ranking in Germany; her father competed professionally on the ATP tour for ten years.
Assistant coach Noah Lilienthal has assumed a larger role this season as he works alongside Ritchie on team goals.
Returning athletes include Zuzanna Frankowska (who posted a singles record of 16-13 last season), Zeynep Ilker (13-8 overall), Karina Jumazhanova (12-10 overall), Naomi Karki (doubles record of 16-14), and Mai Nguyen (15-13 doubles).
After ITA Regionals, Rutgers will next compete at the Big Green Invitational in Hanover, New Hampshire from November 7-11.
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