Box Score QUEENS, N.Y. --- In the first of two road matches this weekend, the NJIT women's tennis team was defeated, 4-2, by the St. John's Red Storm Friday afternoon at the USTA National Tennis Center.

Mouna Bouzgarrou (No. 4 singles) and Advaita Saravanan (No. 6 singles) earned wins for the Highlanders (5-3) while Joleta Budiman (No. 1 singles) and Adara Omar (No. 5 singles) played into three sets in their matches.

St. John's took a 1-0 by winning the top two doubles matches (with Bouzgarrou and Aya El-Sayed tied at 6-6 in the third flight) but Saravanan tied the match at 1-1 by finishing the No. 6 match first. St. John's took the next two matches at No. 2 and No. 1 to take a 3-1 lead in the match. Bouzgarrou's win at No. 4 cut NJIT's deficit to 3-2 before the Red Storm clinched in three sets at No. 5 while Amira Badawi was in her third set at No. 3.

"The team played with a lot of energy and courage to win. We competed very well and played best in doubles. We played the bigger points better than we did against Penn and Rutgers but still need to get better," head coach Zaki Abdelrahman said after the match. "We had match points but did not play aggressively enough to close those matches out. Joleta took a set from a top nationally ranked player and played some of her best tennis today. Mouna and Advaita are on their peak as well. We are developing and growing up as a team, and I am sure we will start getting more wins very soon against those top teams." 

St. John's Red Storm 4, NJIT Highlanders 2 
Singles competition
1. #51 Jessica Livianu (SJU) def. Joleta Budiman (NJIT) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
2. Oceane Garibal (SJU) def. Aya El Sayed (NJIT) 6-1, 6-3
3. Milka Genkova (SJU) vs. Amira Badawi (NJIT) 7-6, 3-6, 1-0, unfinished
4. Mouna Bouzgarrou (NJIT) def. Najah Dawson (SJU) 7-6, 6-4
5. Gabriela Tenorio (SJU) def. Adara Omar (NJIT) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
6. Advaita Saravanan (NJIT) def. Camila Ordonez (SJU) 6-0, 6-2 

Doubles competition
1. Jessica Livianu/Gabriela Tenorio (SJU) def. Joleta Budiman/Amira Badawi (NJIT) 7-5
2. Najah Dawson/Oceane Garibal (SJU) def. Advaita Saravanan/Adara Omar (NJIT) 6-3
3. Milka Genkova/Camila Ordonez (SJU) vs. Aya El Sayed/Mouna Bouzgarrou (NJIT) 6-6, unfinished 

Match Notes:
NJIT Highlanders 5-3
St. John's Red Storm 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (2,6,1,4,5) 

NEXT UP
NJIT will return to New York tomorrow for a 5 p.m. match at Army West Point.