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Tennis Returns Home for Penn State, Ohio State

Published

9 months ago

March 20, 2025

Tennis Returns Home for Penn State, Ohio State

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers women’s tennis team (7-5, 1-3 B1G) returns home to take on No. 46 Penn State (11-3, 2-2 B1G) and No. 11 Ohio State (9-1, 3-1 B1G).In addition to the four newcomers, Ritchie also welcomed back four returners in Jackie Lopez, Minchae Kim, Mai Nguyen and Naomi Karki. Graduate Student Yana Gurevich became the first Scarlet Knight in program history to earn All-Big Ten honors, after going 12-5 in conference play.In the offseason, head coach Hilary Ritchie welcomed four newcomers to the team including two freshman in Zeynep Ilker and Karina Jumazhanova in addition to two transfers in Zuzanna Frankowska and Zhou “Cindy” Xintong. The Scarlet Knights will continue conference play when they travel to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Friday March 28 at 4 p.m. before traveling to Madison to battle the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday March 30 at 11 a.m.”The Arthur Ashe Award is a prestigious ITA Award and Tara is a perfect recipient,” head coach Hilary Ritchie said. “Tara always strives for excellence. In her two years at Rutgers, she made a big impact on our team, the business school and the student-athlete community overall.” On the heels of the 2024 spring season, alum Tara Chilton and assistant coach Hailey Barrett have both garnered regional and national praise from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) with the announcement of the end of the year awards. Chilton earned the prestigious Arthur Ashe Award while Barrett was named the Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year.

Scouting the Nittany LionsRU is coming off a successful fall that consisted of a Brown Invite tournament victory as well as a quarterfinal appearance by Karki and Zhou in doubles play of the ITA Regionals.

Overall, the team amassed an impressive 55-33 record in singles. Frankowska paced the squad in singles play with 10 wins, while the duo of Karki-Zhou won five doubles matches to lead the team.

Recapping the 2024 Fall

The Scarlet Knights had their best season under head coach Hilary Ritchie, finishing with a 12-12 record and earning their second win in program history at the Big Ten Tournament. RU also picked up nine victories in non-conference play, including three shutouts.
National RecognitionRutgers started the spring 9-3, their best start since the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. The team also added two Big Ten regular season wins, defeating Michigan State and Minnesota. The ITA Assistant Coach of the Year honors an assistant coach who has exhibited outstanding leadership in ways that contribute to on and off-court team performance. These are qualities that assistant coach Barrett has exemplified since arriving On The Banks.

Scouting the Buckeyes

No. 46 Penn State is currently 11-3 and 2-2 against the conference. Losers of their last two, the Nittany Lions are led by Olivia Dorner, holding down the number one spot in singles play with a 7-4 record. In doubles play along with partner Maiko Uchijima, the duo is 9-3 in the spring campaign.

OSU is currently the 11th ranked team in the nation, holding a 9-2 overall record and 3-1 in conference play. The Buckeyes are led by No. 8 Luciana Perry and No. 35 Teah Chavez, who as a duo are ranked 15th nationally. Perry is 7-3 from the No. 1 singles spot while Chavez is undefeated in singles No. 2. The duo is 8-1 this spring and undefeated in conference play.
New Kids ‘On The Banks’

The Returners

Recapping the 2024 Spring

Kim finished the spring campaign with a strong 11 singles and nine doubles victories, including eight in Big Ten competition. She helped RU earn a win in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament with a singles win over Michigan State.

Originally from Bursa, Turkey Zeynep Ilker comes to Rutgers with a wealth of international playing experience. A member of Turkey’s National Team, she has taken part in European Championships. She spent several years competing on the ITF Junior Tour and in 2023 reached a career-best ranking of 408.

PSU holds a 7-2 advantage in the lifetime series with Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have not beat the Nittany Lions since the 2019 season, when they edged Penn State at home, 4-3.

The Scarlet Knights will take on the Nittany Lions on Saturday March 14 at 12 p.m. for the second Community Day of the year, outside at the Livingston Tennis Center. Those in attendance for Community Day will receive free pizza, raffles and giveaways, and autographs with the team. RU will then take on the Buckeyes on Sunday March 23 at 12 p.m back inside at the East Brunswick Racquet Club.

“Hailey is so deserving of this award,” Ritchie said. “She wears an incredible number of hats to help this team and the individual student-athletes as well. During a time when there is a lot of uncertainty in college athletics, Hailey always remains positive and puts her passion for tennis first.”

Karki finished freshman campaign with a combined 14 wins across singles and doubles competitions. Recorded first-career conference singles win over Michigan State and provided the dual-clinching win to help Rutgers complete its comeback and beat UConn.

Last Time Out

History Against Ohio State

Chilton, who came to Rutgers in the fall of 2023 at the start of her junior season, has made a long-lasting impact on the Scarlet Knights. During her time On The Banks Chilton has excelled in all areas including in tennis, academics and volunteering in her community.
History Against Penn StateZuzanna Frankowska played her freshman year at Baylor and hails from Kobylka, Poland. In the fall of 2023, she made her debut at the TCU Fall Invitational and went onto pick up four singles wins and a doubles victory throughout the slate. In the 2024 spring, she played two matches at the No. 5 lineup spot and picked up a doubles win against the Iowa State on the third court. Rutgers made history in the ITA rankings, claiming its first-ever team and doubles ranking. The Scarlet Knights reached as high as No. 68 in the polls while the pair of Amira Badawi and Mai Nguyen came in at a season-best No. 54. Lopez compiled eight singles wins across the 2023 season, finishing the campaign on a three-match winning streak. She clinched RU’s first-ever victory over Minnesota in addition to the win over NJIT. Zhou “Cindy” Xintong spent her rookie season at Fordham, where she excelled. In the 2023 fall, she went 4-3 in singles play and 6-1 in doubles. She saw action in 18 of the team’s 22 spring matches, going 8-5 in singles play, earning victories on courts No. 3, 4 and 5. The Mississauga, Ontario, Canada native went 11 matches without a loss, picking up big two-set wins over George Washington, Brown, Richmond and George Mason. Nguyen finished her sophomore campaign with 18 victories, including 11 in singles competitions. She was featured twice in the ITA National Doubles rankings with partner Amira Badawi and defeated Penn State’s 69th-ranked doubles pair with partner Yana Gurevich. In addition, Nguyen earned a singles victory to help RU top Michigan State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. Looking AheadRutgers dropped both matches in its last weekend of play, falling to No. 56 Purdue and Indiana. Naomi Karki, Jackie Lopez and Zuzanna Frankowska all recorded singles wins in the losses.Follow Along

Follow Rutgers women’s tennis on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.The Scarlet Knights have not beaten the Buckeyes in the eight-match lifetime series between programs.Karina Jumazhanova also brings lots of worldly experience to the team, coming from Almaty, Kazakhstan. She mainly competed in Women’s 15k events on the ITF World Tennis Tour, reaching a career-high ITF ranking of 178. The freshman also saw action in the U16 Juniors Billie Jean King Cup, representing Kazakhstan. She is an ITF J4 Doubles Winner and Finalist, in addition to being a Kazakhstan Doubles Finalist Champion.

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NCAA Tournament: Nebraska vs. Kansas State Volleyball Watch Thread

Published

35 seconds ago

December 7, 2025

Your Sports Nation

#1 Nebraska vs. Kansas State

When: Saturday, December 6th, 7:00pm CST

Where: Bob Devaney Sports Center, Lincoln, NE

Both Kansas State and Nebraska won their 1st round matches to create an old Big 12 matchup for Round 2 in Lincoln, NE on Saturday night. Though the Huskers played a little later, they probably have the upper hand tomorrow since they only had to play 3 sets while Kansas State had to battle through 5 tough sets against San Diego earlier on Friday afternoon.

Since the match is less than 24 hours away, you’re only going to get the spark notes version for this Kansas State team and a quick recap of their match against San Diego. Kansas State could be bringing a good amount of fans tomorrow as they are only roughly 2 and half hours from Lincoln.

Kansas State finished the 2025 season going 18-9, 10-8 in conference play, in the Big 12 conference and getting ranked wins against North Carolina, Kansas, Colorado, Baylor, and Iowa State. The Big 12 was one of the most, if not the most, competitive conferences this year putting the most teams in the tournament in 2o25.

The stats get a little rough for K-State if you just look at the record between them and Nebraska. These two teams played their first match against each other in 1975 and the most recent one was in 2023 in the non-conference portion of the season. K-State is 4-81 against the Huskers, all time, with their last win coming in 2011 in the tournament. Nebraska hosted this match.

K-State’s top player, in their match against San Diego, was SR OH Shaylee Myers, who is a Lincoln Southwest graduate. She had 26 kills on 58 swings and hit .328%. She only recorded 7 errors.

RS-JR OH Aniya Clinton was another top Wildcat on Friday night, recording 19 kills in the 5 set match, hitting .304%. She also added 13 digs as well.

MB Jordyn Williams and Setter Ava LeGrand were the top blockers for K-State with Williams blocking 7 balls and LeGrand blocking 6. Brenna Schmidt is the Wildcats’ other middle blocker and she had a pretty good night defensively, but struggled offensively ending in the negatives with 2 kills and 3 errors. Schmidt had 4 assisted blocks and also had 1 of 2 solo blocks. Clinton had the other solo block.

Nebraska will look to continue their hunt for a national championship Saturday night against a Kansas State team that will be hungry to take out the only undefeated team left in D1 volleyball, and the predicted national champion. The match will begin at 7:00pm CST on ESPN+.

#1 Nebraska Cornhuskers (31-0, 20-0 B1G)

Kansas State Wildcats (18-9, 10-8 Big 12)

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Indoor Track and Field’s Mia Hoskins Breaks Weight Throw Record on Opening Weekend

Published

17 minutes ago

December 7, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NEW YORK — The Columbia track & field team began its 2025-26 season this weekend, competing in three meets in the New York City Area. The Lions had a successful start to the year, with many successful performances, which included a new program record.

The weekend began at the Armory Collegiate Distance Carnival, where Columbia dominated in the field events. Tyler Yen and Madison Williams won the long jump events, posting 6.85m and 5.63m, respectively, to lead the pack.

Viktoria Mihaylova picked up a win in the triple jump, posting a 11.97m jump. Rocco Carpinello took second in the men’s triple jump with a mark of 14.58m.

In the distance events, Elia Ton-That had the top finish for the Lions, placing second in the 3000m with a time of 9:42.63.

On Saturday evening, the Lions continued to compete at the Armory in the TCNJ Indoor Open. The highlight of the meet came in the mile run, where Jacob Van Orden (4:08.14) and Maggie Boler (5:02.17) both finished in first place.

Moriah Luetjen took first in the 400m with a time of 57.09. In addition, Collin Moore (1.93m) and Norina Khanzada (1.68m) won the high jump events, Mignonne de Beer (5.72m) won the long jump, and Liam Wright (4.60m) and Lucy Markow (3.62m) won the pole vault.

Elsewhere, Columbia sent its throwers to compete at the Army Crowell Open, where history was made.

Mia Hoskins took second in the weight throw, setting a new program record with a mark of 17.94m.

Marcus Blasucci also placed second in the shot put, with the second best mark in program history at 17.59m.

Parker Kim won the weight throw with a throw of 19.70m.

Full results from the Armory Collegiate Distance Carnival, including all of Columbia’s other top finishers, can be found HERE.

Full results from the TCNJ Indoor Open, including all of Columbia’s other top finishers, can be found HERE.

Full results from the Army Crowell Open, including all of Columbia’s other top finishers, can be found HERE.

ON DECK:

The Lions will be off the rest of December for the holidays, before returning to action in the new year on January 9 in the TCNJ Lions Invite at the Armory.

Stay up to date on all things Columbia track & field by following the Lions on Twitter (@CULionsXCTF), Instagram (@culionsxctf) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).

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Nebraska advances to Sweet 16 after sweeping Kansas State

Published

19 minutes ago

December 7, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Nebraska hosted Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament on Saturday.The Huskers got on the board first thanks to Harper Murray.Virginia Adriano forced a Wildcat timeout after a solo block and a kill. Nebraska led 13-7.Check out this incredible play.Nebraska won set 1, 25-17.Kansas State got on the board first, but the Huskers bounced back quickly.The Huskers won set 2, 25-21.The Wildcats got out ahead of the Huskers, but Andi Jackson was able to tie things up at five apiece.Adriano with a kill made it 18-12 Nebraska.With a 25-16 set 3 win, the Husker swept Kansas State to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 41st time in program history.Nebraska will play Kansas in the next round of the tournament. The time and date have yet to be announced.Make sure you can always see the latest news, weather, sports and more from KETV NewsWatch 7 on Google search.NAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Local News | National | Sports | Newscasts on demand |

LINCOLN, Neb. —

Nebraska hosted Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament on Saturday.