Tennis Hosts Oakland, Travels to MSU

Spring Dual #6 - vs. OAKLAND
Date	Saturday, Feb. 10 - 1 p.m.
Venue	Chippewa Club (Ypsilanti)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live	n/a
Twitter	@EMUEaglesTennis \| @EMUAthletics

Spring Dual #7 - at MICHIGAN STATE
Date	Sunday, Feb. 11 - 4 p.m.
Venue	MSU Indoor Tennis Facility (East Lansing, Mich.)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live	Watch
Twitter	@EMUEaglesTennis \| @EMUAthletics

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University tennis team, winners of four matches in a row, will look to extend its winning ways this week as the Eagles are scheduled to play host to Oakland University and travel to face Michigan State University. The Eagles (4-1) and Golden Grizzlies (1-1) will meet Saturday, Feb. 10, at 1 p.m. inside the Chippewa Club in Ypsilanti before EMU closes the weekend in East Lansing for a 4 p.m. dual Sunday, Feb. 11, against the Spartans.

FIRST SERVES
» Eastern enters the weekend with a 4-1 record after securing a hard-fought 6-1 win over Cleveland State Sunday, Feb. 4
» The Eagles' 4-1 record ties for the third-best record through five matches in program history behind only a pair of 5-0 records. The 4-1 record also is the best start for the Eagles since going 4-1 to open the 2013-14 season.
» Eastern captured the doubles point against Cleveland State, marking the fourth dual in a row in which it has done so. The Eagles won the doubles point just four times total in 2022-23.
» The duo of Daniella Shved and Prerna Vichare clinched the doubles point with their 7-5 win at No. 2 after trailing, 5-4. The pair were named the MAC Doubles Team of the Week, Feb. 6.
» Freshman Ksyusha Saenko celebrated her birthday in style as she won in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 4 singles to clinch the dual for the Eagles.
» With the 6-1 win over Hillsdale, Jan. 27, Head Coach Ryan Kucera collected his first victory leading the EMU program after taking the reins Aug. 9, 2023. The 6-1 win over Cleveland State marked the first win over an NCAA Division I foe at Eastern for Kucera, who is 4-1 with EMU and 31-39 in his career.

SCOUTING: OAKLAND
The Golden Grizzlies enter the weekend with a 1-1 record after playing twice in Buffalo last week. OU posted a 5-2 win at Niagara to open the season before falling at Buffalo one day later, 6-1. The dual with the Eagles will mark the second of four consecutive against members of the MAC as the Golden Grizzlies are slated to travel to Ball State Sunday, Feb. 11, and Western Michigan, Feb. 16.

IN THE SERIES: EAGLES vs. GOLDEN GRIZZLIES
Eastern holds a 16-2 all-time record in its series with Oakland after winning the first 12 duals in a row. After meeting in both 1976 and 1977, the two sides didn't play again until 2010 and have played every since with the exception of 2019, when EMU did not field a team. The Eagles claimed a 4-3 decision on the road in their most recent meeting, March 12, 2023, after having dropped a 5-2 decision in 2022. The last time the series was played in Ypsilanti was March 2, 2020, a 4-3 loss for the Eagles.

SCOUTING: MICHIGAN STATE
The Spartans enter a busy weekend with a 2-2 record after most recently scoring a 6-1 road win at Dartmouth. MSU opened the season in Tucson, Ariz., with a trio of matches, downing Missouri, 4-1, before falling to both Arizona and BYU by 4-0 scores. This week, the Spartans are set for home duals against three MAC foes as they will face Toledo Friday, Western Michigan at noon Sunday, and Eastern at 4 p.m. Sunday.

IN THE SERIES: EAGLES vs. SPARTANS
The dual Sunday will be the 47th all-time meeting between the two teams with the Spartans holding a 40-6 record. Winners of 15 in a row, the Eagles last downed MSU, 4-3, Feb. 6, 2004, in East Lansing. The series began in 1976 and was played each year from 1978-2017 (with the exception of 1985) before being resumed in 2020. Although EMU has won just six times, all six have come as visitors in the series.

MITTEN MEETINGS
The Eagles will play seven matches against fellow Michigan schools during the 2024 season and are off to a 3-0 start after downing Hillsdale (Jan. 27), 6-1, and Ferris State (Jan. 28), 6-1 and 5-0. Eastern's remaining schedule will see duals against Oakland (Feb. 10) and Western Michigan (April 19) at home, and on the road with Michigan State (Feb. 11) and WMU (April 12). Overall, the Eagles hold a record of 97-109 all-time against Michigan schools following the 3-0 weekend.

LOOKING BACK: EMU DOWNS CLEVELAND ST.
Eastern remained in the win column as the Eagles downed visiting Cleveland State, 6-1, Feb. 4, to move to 4-1 on the strength of their fourth consecutive win. The Eagles secured the doubles point before falling at No. 1 singles. From there, Eastern won the remaining five singles matches, including two that went to a third set, to grab the dominant victory.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
With EMU victorious at No. 3 and Cleveland State taking the match at No. 1, the doubles point came down the No. 2 match where Daniella Shved and Prerna Vichare found themselves trailing, 5-4. Despite the deficit, the Eagle duo dug deep and won the next three games to win their match, 7-5, and clinch the doubles point for Eastern.

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.

𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞!

The team of Daniella Shved and Prerna Vichare have been named this week's @MACSports Doubles Team of the Week!

Read all about it below:#EMUEagles https://t.co/q57g6Pj2oA
— EMU Tennis (@EMUEaglesTennis) February 6, 2024

STARTING STRONG
Last year, the Eagles played 15 duals and captured the doubles point four times. Through five duals this year, the Eagles have captured the doubles point four times, including each of the last four matches. A big part of that has been the play Andrea Quiroz, who has won all four of her doubles matches with 6-0 scores. She has teamed with Linda Eloundou twice in those matches and once each with Ksyusha Saenko and Prerna Vichare.

FOUR IN A ROW
With their win over Cleveland State, Feb. 4, the Eagles have won four matches in a row. The last time the team accomplished the feat came during the 2022 season with the Eagles taking two wins on the road and two at home. The last time Eastern has won four consecutive home matches came during the 2018 season with wins over Grand Valley State (6-1), Oakland (6-1), Detroit Mercy (5-2), and Akron (4-3).

ONE OF THE BEST STARTS
Eastern is off to a 4-1 start this season, which is the best start for the program since the 2013-14 team began the same way. The 4-1 start ranks tied for the third-best in program history behind 5-0 starts posted by the 1984 and 2003 squads.

GOING FOR FIVE
Should the Eagles down the Golden Grizzlies Saturday, Eastern would not only move to 5-1, but would remain tied for the third-best start in program history as the 1984 and 2003 teams each won their sixth match of the year. Six other teams opened the year 5-1, including 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 2002, and 2014.

DE JA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?
The last time the Eagles opened at 4-1 was 2014. Eastern followed with a home dual against Oakland and won, 5-2. That was followed by the Eagles traveling to East Lansing to face Michigan State, who snapped the EMU winning streak with a 5-2 score. This week, the Eagles enter with a 4-1 record before playing host to Oakland... and then traveling to Michigan State.

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
The Eagles return to the road next week and will play a pair of duals in the Hoosier State. First, Eastern will head to Indianapolis to take on Butler University at 3 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, before heading to Valparaiso, Ind., for a 2 p.m. clash Sunday, Feb. 18, with the Beacons of Valparaiso University. The duals are the second and third in a five-dual road stretch for the Eagles.

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

Andrea Quiroz

Kseniia Saenko

Daniella Shved

Prerna Vichare

Wendy Zhang

Eastern Michigan Athletics