Tennis Sends Four to Wolverine Invitational

FALL TOURNAMENT #3 - WOLVERINE INVITATIONAL
Date	Friday-Sunday, Oct. 10-12, 2025 \| 10 a.m.
Venue	Varsity Tennis Center \| Ann Arbor, Mich.
Preview Info	EMU Notes (pdf)
Live	Score Updates \| Watch (not all matches will be streamed)
Social Media	X: @EMUEaglesTennis \| Instagram: @EMU_Tennis

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Four members of the Eastern Michigan University tennis team will head down the street into Ann Arbor this weekend to compete in the Wolverine Invitational, hosted by the University of Michigan, Oct. 10-12, at the Varsity Tennis Center. The individual event will feature players from seven teams, including five from the Big Ten Conference. Action starts on Friday at 11 a.m. and then at 10 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free every day.

ON THE COURTS FOR EASTERN
Here are the Eagles that could compete in the 2025 MAC Fall Individuals:
Singles
Matilde Parreira (Fr.) • 3-2 | Won Group 8 at the Block E Invitational
Sabrina Tolstova (Fr.) • 0-3 | Competed in Group 1 at the Block E Invitational to open the season
Doubles
Pehal Kharadkar (Fr.) & Regina Mendez Carreno (Sr.) • 0-2 | Played together at the Block E to open the fall
Matilde Parreira (Fr.) & Sabrina Tolstova (Fr.) • 1-3 | Competed together in both tournaments this fall

FIRST SERVES
» The Eagles opened their 2025 fall slate three weeks ago when they hosted the Block E Invitational (Sept. 19-20) at the Chippewa Club. Both Matilde Parreira and Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya posted 3-0 records to win their respective singles groups.
» The 2025-26 Eastern Michigan roster features eight players from eight countries and four continents. Included on the roster are four returning Eagles in Iva Daneva, Lara Diaz Zayas, Regina Mendez Carreño, and Kseniia Saenko, and four newcomers in Pehal Kharadkar, Matilde Parreira, Sabrina Tolstova, and Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya.
» With the four freshmen included, the EMU roster boasts players from eight countries, including Argentina, India, Indonesia, Mexico, North Macedonia, Portugal, Russia, and Ukraine. All told, the Eagles are represented on four continents, including North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
» The Eagles are experiencing a youth movement as the eight-player roster includes four freshmen, two sophomores, one junior, and one senior.
» Ryan Kucera returns for his third season as the team's head coach and will look to guide the team to the MAC Tournament for the second time. He has guided the team to back-to-back 12-win seasons for the first time since the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons when Tim Gray led the team to consecutive 16-win campaigns.

EVENT INFO: THE TEAMS
The Eagles will join players from six other institutions at the Wolverine Invitational with five hailing from the Big Ten, including host and No. 3 Michigan, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 35 Iowa, No. 52 Northwestern, and No. 68 Michigan State (all rankings are from the final 2024-25 ITA Rankings). No. 53 Miami will make the trip north from Florida to compete and represent the ACC.

NATIONALLY KNOWN
Although not confirmed to be playing in the event, 11 individuals and seven doubles pairs appeared on the preseason ITA Tennis Rankings that were released Aug. 26. In singles, Michigan and Ohio State each have four players among the initial top 125 rankings with each having one player in the top 10 in No. 5 Luciana Perry (OSU) and No. 10 Piper Charney (UM). Miami (two) and Iowa (one) also have ranked singles players. In doubles, the Wolverines, Buckeyes, and Hawkeyes each have two teams ranked in the top 90 while the Hurricanes have one.

EVENT INFO: THE FORMAT
The Wolverine Invitational will feature three days of play on the outdoor courts of the Varsity Tennis Center on the U-M campus. Action begins Friday, Oct. 10, with singles action at both 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. with one round of doubles to be played at 2 p.m. Action gets underway at 10 a.m. with doubles play on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 11-12.

RECAP: 2025 MAC INDIVIDUALS
Singles: Lara Diaz Zayas and Matilde Parreira both took part in the singles competition with each falling in the first round before battling in three sets in consolation round. Diaz Zayas opened the tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Isabella Barretto (Toledo), who would eventually reach the finals and take runner-up honors in the event. Diaz Zayas then faced Lola Glantz (Western Michigan) where she took the first set before falling in three, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Similarly, Parreira fell in the opening round, 6-0, 6-4, to Maria Glowacka (Buffalo) before dropping a three-set decision to Frida Weijerman (WMU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Doubles: In doubles play, Parreira joined with fellow freshman Sabrina Tolstova and fell in the first round, 8-6, to the UMass pair of Ella Faessler and Amelia Tye, who eventually made the finals and took second place. The EMU team also battled in the consolation rounds before falling, 8-5, to the team of Nina Chavez and Evelyn Risner (Miami). Diaz Zayas paired with freshman Pehal Kharadkar and fell in the first round, 8-1, to the Toledo team of Anastasia Akuginova and Barretto before dropping an 8-5 decision to the Bowling Green team of Konstantina Adamopolou and Leticia Fonseca.

FIRST WINS
All four newcomers to the program competed at the Block E Invitational (Sept. 19-20) at the Chippewa Club with each recording the first wins in their collegiate careers. Both Matilde Parreira and Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya collected four wins on opening weekend as they both posted perfect 3-0 records in singles action while adding one win in doubles play. Additionally, Pehal Kharadkar captured her first collegiate win in singles play while Sabrina Tolstova earned her first victory in a doubles match with Perreira as her partner.

STRAIGHT TO THE POINTS
Not only did Matilde Parreira and Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya post undefeated records in singles action, but both did also so without dropping a set. Perreira led the way by losing just 14 games in the six sets she played while Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya surrendered only 19 with two of her matches coming against MAC foes (Bowling Green and Toledo).

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern is back in action, Oct. 16-19, when players compete in the ITA Midwest Regional Championships, hosted by the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill. The tournament, which will feature players from 23 schools in the region, will be used to determine who advances to the ITA Indoor Championships in November.

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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Iva Daneva

Lara Diaz Zayas

Pehal Kharadkar

Matilde Parreira

Kseniia Saenko

Sabrina Tolstova

Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya

Eastern Michigan Athletics