Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. (March 22, 2016) - The Rutgers University-Newark men's tennis team was defeated 9-0 by Baruch College on Tuesday afternoon in its 2016 season opener at The Golden Dome Courts.

The Scarlet Raiders drop to 0-1 on the young 2016 season and will return to action Thursday when they host Brooklyn College in Newark. Baruch improves to 5-1 on the season.

The match of the day came at No. 1 doubles where sophomore Nadeem Hilal and freshman Richard Nguyen nearly pulled off a comeback victory over Hugo Castalan and Lewis Pena. After trailing early, the Scarlet Raider pair came back to take an 8-7 lead before falling 9-8 in what was an epic 12-10 tiebreak.

Rutgers-Newark fell in No. 2 doubles, 8-4, and No. 3, 8-3, as the Bearcats took a 3-0 margin into singles action.

Junior Joe Codomo won a team-high seven games out of the third slot to pace the Scarlet Raiders in singles action, dropping his match 6-3, 6-4. Hilal picked up five games at No. 2, falling 6-3, 6-2.

"I was happy with the fight a lot of our guys showed today," Head Coach Tom Battaglia said after the match. "Baruch is a very good team, and in many cases - especially in that great No. 1 doubles match - we hung tough and did some things we wanted to do. I know the guys will keep working hard, and hopefully we get a different result on Thursday afternoon."