Tennis Heads to Columbus for ITA Regionals

Tennis at ITA MIDWEST REGIONAL
Date	Thursday, Oct. 10-Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024
Venue	Ty Tucker Tennis Center \| Columbus, Ohio
Host	Ohio State
Notes/Stats	EMU Notes (pdf)
Results / Watch	n/a \| n/a
Social Media	X: @EMUEaglesTennis \| Instagram: @EMU_Tennis

COLUMBUS, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) -- Four members of the Eastern Michigan University tennis team are set to compete in the 2024 ITA Midwest Regional Championships that begin Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, Ohio. The Eagles will battle against the best in the region with hopes of reaching the finals of the singles and/or doubles competitions which would earn an automatic berth into the 2024 ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, Nov. 1-5.

TOURNAMENT INFO: THE BASICS
The tournament features one singles and one doubles tournament comprised of players from 19 institutions in the Midwest, including Bowling Green, Bradley, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Illinois, Illinois State, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, SIU-Edwardsville, Toledo, Valparaiso, Western Michigan, Wisconsin, and Youngstown State. The tournament will run Thursday, Oct. 10, through Tuesday, Oct. 15, with matches being played outside at the Ohio State Varsity Tennis Courts with the Ty Tucker Tennis Center being utilized should the tournament be forced indoors because of weather.

TOURNAMENT INFO: HOW IT WORKS
The ITA Midwest Regional is one of 14 regional events being played throughout the nation in October with the finalists in the singles and doubles tournaments earning automatic berths into the 2024 ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, Nov. 1-5. In each region, up to 64 players will compete in two rounds of qualifiers with the 16 players winning twice advancing to the main draw. From there, the 64-player field will be played down to an individual champion. In doubles, only a main draw will be played with five wins needed to be crowned the regional champion.
EMU is sending four players to compete in the ITA Midwest Regional, including Daniella Shved, who was selected for the main draw, and the trio of Kseniia Saenko, Sabina Brichackova, and Iva Daneva, all of whom will play in the qualifiers. Additionally, the four Eagles will pair up to compete in doubles, including the team of Saenko and Shved and the team of Brichackova and Daneva.

FIRST SERVES
» Sabina Brichackova and Kseniia Saenko played at the ITA Midwest Regional in 2023 with Saenko winning twice in the qualifier to reach the main draw where both fell in the first round. Both players also went 1-1 with their doubles' partners in the event.
» With three wins last week in Indiana, including two singles wins, Sabina Brichackova raised her career total to 50 wins in singles play and 95 combined wins, leaving her five total victories shy of 100. To reach the program's all-time top 20, she would need seven singles wins and 10 doubles wins.
» Regina Mendez placed fourth in singles Flight 6 for the highest individual finish at the Hoosier Classic for the Eagles. She won her opening-round match to reach the semifinals before falling.
» The Eagles' 2024-25 roster features 10 players, including six returnees and four newcomers. In total, nine different nations are represented on the roster, including the U.S., Argentina, Czechia, India, Israel, Mexico, North Macedonia, Poland, and Russia.
» Ryan Kucera returns for his second season as the team's head coach and will look to guide the team to the MAC Tournament for the second year in a row, which would mark the first time it has happened since the 2014 and 2015 tournaments.
» Players are not the only addition to the roster this year as the coaching staff has added both Masha Polishchuk and Andrew Dobbs. Polishchuk, a MAC champion during her playing career at Ball State, will serve as a graduate assistant coach while Dobbs will serve as an undergraduate assistant.

LOOKING BACK: 2023 ITA MIDWEST
The 2023 edition of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships took place Oct. 12-17 in East Lansing, Mich., with five Eagles playing singles and four competing in doubles. In singles play, Linda Eloundou and Kseniia Saenko both won two qualifier matches to earn a berth into the main draw with Sabina Brichackova where all three fell. The two players advancing from the qualifiers marked the most for the Eagles since advancing two in 2016. In doubles play, Saenko and Andrea Quiroz went 1-1 to fall out of the tournament, as did Brichackova and Prerna Vichare.

RECAP: HOOSIER CLASSIC
The Eagles competed at the Hoosier Classic in Bloomington, Ind., Oct. 4-7, with eight players making the trip to play in both singles and doubles. Regina Mendez was the top placer for the Eagles as she reached the semifinals of Flight 6 to place fourth overall. In doubles play, the team of Kseniia Saenko and Daniella Shved finished a team-best fifth in Flight 1 to pace the Eagles.
Sabina Brichackova was 2-1 in singles Flight 4 to bring her career singles win total to 50 as she hit the half-century mark with a tough 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Isabella Righi (Northern Illinois). Additionally, both Viki Hazmukova (seventh in Flight 5) and Marta Komar (sixth in Flight 6) played their first singles matches for Eastern after only competing in doubles one week earlier.

QUOTING KUCERA: HOOSIER CLASSIC
"I am really proud of our growth and determination throughout this tournament," Head Coach Ryan Kucera said following the Hoosier Classic. "The first two days, result wise, were frustrating because we were in so many matches and did not have them go our way. We didn't feel like we competed in the big moments to the level we are capable. But we made it a priority and each day we improved, finishing strong on Day 3. We had a ton of competitive matches against top ranked opponents, and we learned a lot heading into regionals."

NIFTY 50
While playing in the Hoosier Classic (Oct. 4-6), Sabina Brichackova secured a pair of wins in singles play and one win in doubles action. With the wins in singles, she brought her career total to 50, which is seven shy of tying Victoria Domina (2003-05) for the No. 20 spot on the program's all-time singles victories list. Additionally, the doubles win brought her career total to 46, leaving her 10 shy of tying by Miriam Westerink (2008-12) and Avi Gogvadze (20014-18) for No. 19 all-time at EMU.

UP THE LADDER
Prerna Vichare, like Sabina Brichackova, is also nearing a spot on the top 20 ledger. Although Vichare did not play in the Hoosier Classic, she currently has collected 46 wins in her doubles career, which equals Brichackova's total, and leaves both 10 victories shy of tying for 19th with Miriam Westerink (2008-12) and Avi Gogvadze (2014-18). Similar to Brichackova, Vichare is also closing in on 100 career victories as her singles (29) and doubles (46) wins have her at 75 for her career, just 25 away from the century mark.

ON THE HORIZON
Several individuals will travel to Oxford, Ohio, Oct. 24-27, to take part in the inaugural Mid-American Conference Fall Individual Championships, hosted by Miami University. The four-day event will be played to crown a champion in both singles and doubles play.

FOLLOW US
For all things EMU Tennis, be sure to check out the team's social media accounts, including EMUEaglesTennis on X (formerly Twitter) and EMU_Tennis on Instagram.

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Players Mentioned

Sabina Brichackova

Iva Daneva

Linda Eloundou

Viki Hazmukova

Marta Komar

Regina Mendez Carreño

Andrea Quiroz

Kseniia Saenko

Daniella Shved

Prerna Vichare

Eastern Michigan Athletics