Tennis Set for Two Hoosier State Matches

Spring Dual #8 - at BUTLER
Date	Friday, Feb. 16 - 3 p.m.
Venue	Butler Bubble (Indianapolis, Ind.)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live	n/a
Twitter	@EMUEaglesTennis \| @EMUAthletics

Spring Dual #9 - at VALPARAISO
Date	Sunday, Feb. 11 - 4 p.m.
Venue	MSU Indoor Tennis Facility (East Lansing, Mich.)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live	n/a
Twitter	@EMUEaglesTennis \| @EMUAthletics

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University tennis team returns to the road this week for a pair of duals in the Hoosier State as the Eagles will head to Indiana to face Butler University and Valparaiso University. The Eagles (5-2) will first meet the Bulldogs (5-3, 1-0 Big East) in a 3 p.m. match Friday, Feb. 16, inside the Butler Bubble in Indianapolis, Ind. Then, Eastern will take on the Beacons (6-3) at The Courts of Northwest Indiana in a 10 a.m. dual in Valparaiso, Ind.

FIRST SERVES
» Eastern enters the weekend with a 5-2 record after securing a hard-fought 6-1 win over Oakland, Saturday, Feb. 10, before falling on the road at Michigan State, 4-0, Sunday, Feb. 11.
›› The 5-2 start ranks tied for the third-best in program history behind only the 1984 and 2003 teams that opened 6-1.
›› Head Coach Ryan Kucera is 5-2 in his first year with the program, which is the third-best start to a coaching career in program history with Lucy Parker (1976-77, EMU's inaugural season) and Tim Gray (2003), both of whom opened 6-1.
» With the 6-1 win over Hillsdale, Jan. 27, Ryan Kucera collected his first victory leading EMU after taking the reins Aug. 9, 2023. The 6-1 win over Cleveland State, Feb. 4, marked the first win over an NCAA Division I foe at EMU for Kucera, who is 5-2 with EMU and 32-40 in his career.
» With the results over the weekend, the Eagles moved to 98-110 all-time against fellow Michigan schools and stand 4-1 this year against Mitten State teams.
» In the match with Oakland, Feb. 10, the Eagles won the doubles point for the fifth consecutive dual. Last year, the team captured the doubles point just four times in total.
» In doubles play, Andrea Quiroz holds a 5-1 record in dual matches with her first loss coming at Michigan State in a tough 7-5 battle. Prior to the loss, Quiroz and her partners had won five in a row, all by 6-0 scores.
» Three Eagles have hit double-digit win totals already this season with Linda Eloundou's 15-3 record leading the way. Also with 10+ wins are Ksyusha Saenko at 14-5 and Andrea Quiroz at 11-7.

LOOKING BACK: 1-1 WEEKEND
Eastern played a pair of duals over the weekend, winning one and losing the other. The weekend opened with a 6-1 win over Oakland at home, Feb. 10, with the Eagles claiming the doubles point and winning the No. 2-6 singles matches to win its fifth dual in a row. One day later, Eastern dropped a 4-0 decision at Michigan State, seeing its five-match winning streak come to a halt.

SCOUTING: BUTLER
The Bulldogs, members of the Big East, enter the week with a 5-3 record and stand 1-0 in league play after downing Georgetown, 5-2, earlier this season. Butler is coming off a 7-0 loss at Purdue, a setback that halted a five-match winning streak. In fact, all three of Butler's losses this year have come on the road against Big Ten foes, including Indiana and Northwestern.

IN THE SERIES: EAGLES vs. BULLDOGS
Eastern and Butler will meet for the seventh time in the history of the series with the Eagles holding a 5-1 lead. The lone loss came in the previous meeting, a 4-1 decision at Butler, Feb. 25, 2022. Prior to that, the Eagles had won five in a row with three of those matches being played at BU.

SCOUTING: VALPARAISO
The Beacons, members of the Missouri Valley Conference, hold a 6-3 record and have won three in a row after losing three straight. Eastern and Valpo share one common foe so far this year in Cleveland State, who the Beacons fell to at home, 6-1, Jan. 20.

IN THE SERIES: EAGLES vs. BEACONS
Eastern and Valparaiso will meet for just the second time with the first coming Feb. 13, 2022, in Valparaiso, Ind. The Eagles took the victory, 6-1, and hold a 1-0 lead in the all-time series.

DO I KNOW YOU?
During the fall season, the Eagles and Beacons competed at the Redbird Invitational, hosted by Illinois State, Sept. 28-Oct. 1. In the bracketed event that opened the season, five singles and three doubles matches pitted the two teams against one another with the Eagles holding a 3-2 record in singles play and a 1-2 mark in doubles.

ONE OF THE BEST STARTS
The Eagles are off to a 5-2 start, which ties for the fifth-best record through seven matches in program history with eight other teams (1981-82, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1993-94, 1997-98, 2000-01, 2001-02, and 2013-14). The teams with 6-1 records include 1976-77, 1977-78, 1982-83, 1983-84, and 2002-03. A sweep of the weekend would move this year's team to 7-2 and tied for the third-best nine-match mark in program history.

STRONG DEBUT
When looking at the debut season of a head coach, Ryan Kucera's 5-2 mark through seven matches ranks as the third-best in EMU history behind a pair of 6-1 records. The two coaches with a better record are Lucy Parker, who started 6-1 in the program's inaugural season of 1976-77, and Tim Gray, who opened the 2002-03 season at 6-1. Should the Eagles go 2-0 this weekend, Kucera would move into a tie at 7-2 with Parker for the second spot behind Gray, who was 8-1.

DOUBLES TROUBLES
After seeing her first dual in doubles play end in an abandoned 4-4 score at Northwestern, Andrea Quiroz and her partners reeled off five wins in a row, all-but-perfect 6-0 scores. That streak came to an end at Michigan State, Feb. 11, where Quiroz and Linda Eloundou battled to the end before falling, 7-5.

STARTING STRONG
Last year, the Eagles played 15 duals and captured the doubles point four times. Through seven duals this year, the Eagles have captured the doubles point five times, with all five coming at home.

COUNTING HIGHER
A trio of Eagles have captured at least 10 singles wins this season with all three having reached 20+ combined wins when including doubles victories. Linda Eloundou leads the way with a 15-3 singles record and stands 22-12 with doubles included. Freshman Ksyusha Saenko is 14-5 in singles and 22-15 combined while Andrea Quiroz is 11-7 in singles and 21-15 combined.

BIG IMPROVEMENTS
Four Eagles have already posted improved win totals in singles play over their results from the 2023 season, including Linda Eloundou, who is +9 in wins, and Andrea Quiroz, who is +8. Eloundou is 15-3 this year after posting a 4-9 mark last year while Quiroz sits 11-7 after posting a 3-11 record. Additionally, Regina Mendez has improved by two wins (3-7 to 5-4) while Vidisha Reddy has done the same (1-7 to 3-4).

MITTEN MEETINGS
The Eagles will play seven matches against fellow Michigan schools during the 2024 season and are off to a 4-1 start after downing Hillsdale (Jan. 27), 6-1; Ferris State (Jan., 28), 6-1 and 5-0; and Oakland, 6-1; before dropping a 4-0 decision on the road at Michigan State. Eastern's remaining schedule will see a pair of MAC duals against Western Michigan, including April 12 on the road and April 19 at home. Overall, the Eagles hold a record of 98-110 all-time against Michigan schools through the five matches played in 2024.

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...
Because of their comeback victory, Daniella Shved and Prerna Vichare were selected as the MAC Doubles Team of the Week, the league announced Feb. 6. It was the first award earned by the Eagles this season and the first since Shved and Wendy Zhang earned the doubles award Feb. 16, 2023.

WELCOME ABOARD
Eastern Michigan is guided by Ryan Kucera, who took the reigns as the program's head coach Aug. 9. The 11th head coach in EMU history, Kucera came to Ypsilanti after one season leading Milwaukee, in which the Panthers advanced to the semifinals of the 2023 Horizon League Tournament. Prior to that, he spent two seasons at Minnesota State-Mankato where his second season saw the team reach the second round of the conference tournament. Kucera is a graduate of Grand View (Iowa) where he was a student-athlete from 2017-20 after one season at Luther College.

PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
The MAC announced its 2024 coaches preseason poll Jan. 17 with the Eagles earning 28 points in the voting, tying with Ball State for fourth place. Toledo (47), Miami (38), and Buffalo (35) comprised the top three in the poll with Western Michigan (27), Northern Illinois (14), and Bowling Green (7) ranking sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively. Toledo (6) and Miami (2) earned the first-place votes with the Rockets (6), RedHawks (1), and Cardinals (1) all earning votes for who will win the 2024 MAC Tournament that will take place in Toledo, Ohio, April 26-27.

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern returns to the road for two more matches as they will head to South Carolina for its annual Spring Break trip. This year, the Eagles will open at South Carolina State University, Feb. 27, in Orangeberg, S.C., before closing the trip in Charleston, S.C., Feb. 29, against Charleston Southern University.

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

Linda Eloundou

Regina Mendez Carreño

Andrea Quiroz

Vidisha Reddy

Kseniia Saenko

Daniella Shved

Prerna Vichare

Wendy Zhang

Eastern Michigan Athletics