Tennis Closes Season at Ball State Friday

Spring Dual #23 - at BALL STATE
Date	Friday, April 18, 2025 \| 1 p.m.
Venue	Foster Adams Family Tennis Complex \| Muncie, Ind.
Preview Info	EMU Notes (pdf)
Live	Watch
Social Media	X: @EMUEaglesTennis \| Instagram: @EMU_Tennis

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University tennis team will look to close out its 2024-25 campaign with a win when it ventures to the Foster Adams Family Tennis Complex in Muncie, Ind., Friday, April 18, for a 1 p.m. contest against the Cardinals of Ball State University in the final day of play in the Mid-American Conference. The Eagles (11-11, 4-5 MAC) and Cardinals (10-9, 4-5 MAC) have both been eliminated from MAC Tournament contention, but, with a win and other results from around the league, each could finish as high as tied for fourth place in the final standings.

FIRST SERVES
» Eastern swept a pair of home duals last weekend, including a 5-2 win over Northern Illinois and a 5-2 win over Bowling Green on Senior Day, to improve to 11-11 overall and 4-5 in the MAC.
» With the wins over NIU and BGSU last week, the Eagles finished their home slate with a 10-2 record, marking the second-most home wins in a season in EMU history behind only last year's 11-0 mark. Under Ryan Kucera, the Eagles are 21-2 in home duals at the Chippewa Club.
» The win over Bowling Green (April 13) not only gave the Eagles 10 home wins on the year, but it also marked the 50th victory for Ryan Kucera as a head coach. Kucera now has 23 wins at EMU to go along with nine at Milwaukee and 18 at NCAA Division II Minnesota State Mankato.
» The Eagles are 14-of-22 in claiming the doubles point this season. EMU claimed 13-of-23 last year, one season removed from earning the point just four times. All told, the Eagles have won 60.0 percent (27-of-45) doubles points under Ryan Kucera.
» For the second consecutive week, the MAC Doubles Team of the Week award went to Sabina Brichackova and Prerna Vichare. The senior duo dropped just two games all weekend to help EMU secure the doubles point in both matches.
» With their wins, Sabina Brichackova and Prerna Vichare moved up the program's all-time wins ledgers with Brichackova now ranking 20th in singles (57), 16th in doubles (62) and 19th in combined (119) wins while Vichare stands 19th in doubles (60) and just outside the top 20 in combined (99).
» The 4-3 win over Western Michigan (March 28) marked the 175th MAC win in program history. EMU is now 175-152 all-time in MAC matches (does not include MAC Tournament events).
» 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.

FEELING HONORED
The league announced its weekly award winners, April 15, with Sabina Brichackova and Prerna Vichare repeating as the MAC Doubles Team of the Week. The senior duo had a solid Senior Weekend as they dropped just two games in sweeping their opponents at No. 1 doubles and helping EMU to a pair of 5-2 wins. In the opener, the duo blanked the Northern Illinois team of Erika Dimitriev and Nataly Ninova (April 11), 6-0, to secure the first half of the doubles point. Then, on Senior Day (April 13), they combined for a 6-2 win over Isabella Baker and Tia Clemens for the first half of the doubles point as well. All told, the duo has now won 44 times together with Brichackova's 62 career doubles wins ranking 16th all-time at EMU, and Vichare's 60 wins not only tying for 19th all-time but also making her just the 20th Eagle to win 60+ doubles matches in a career.

PLENTY TO PLAY FOR
Despite being eliminated from postseason contention, the Eagles still have a lot to play for at Ball State where a win would mean:
» The third time in program history EMU has defeated BSU twice in the same season.
» The first back-to-back seasons with 12 wins since the 2003 (16) and 2004 (16) seasons.
» The first back-to-back seasons with five+ MAC wins since the 2004 (seven) and 2005 (seven) seasons.
» The first two-match sweep of any MAC foe since the league moved to the format in 2014.

POINTING IT OUT
In the 15 matches the Eagles played during the 2022-23 season, the team captured the doubles point just four times (26.7 percent). Since taking over the program ahead of the 2023-24 season, the Eagles have shown great growth in doubles play as the team has captured the doubles point in 27-of-45 matches under Ryan Kucera, a 60.0 percent win rate. After the 2023-24 team won 13-of-23 points (.565), this year's team has captured 14-of-22 (.636) through the dual at home with visiting Bowling Green. EMU is 9-5 this season when winning the doubles point.

QUITE THE PAIR
Sabina Brichackova and Prerna Vichare have been quite the team over the past four seasons as the duo has now played 75 career doubles matches together for the Eagles. The duo holds a record of 44-23, including 13-4 this season, with eight more matches marked as abandoned. The tandem, who got the season started well this past fall as they were the runners-up at the inaugural MAC Fall Individual Championships, have won four consecutive matches and earned MAC Doubles Team of the Week in back-to-back weeks (April 7 and April 14).

MAKING THE CLIMB
Sabina Brichackova has placed her name throughout the EMU record book as she has tallied 119 combined victories with 57 wins in singles play and 62 in doubles and, heading into her final dual with the Eagles, she could climb higher in all three wins categories at EMU. With a win in singles at Ball State, she would bring her career total to 58, which would tie Marcela Rivero (2008-12) for 19th all-time. A win in doubles would push her total to 63 and a tie for 15th with Kathy Horton (1981-84) while two wins at BSU would give her 121 combined wins and tie her for 17th with both Caryn Stube (1989-92) and Mariya Toncheva (2010-14) for 17th.

UP THE LADDER
Like her playing partner, Prerna Vichare recently joined the career doubles wins ledger as her 60 victories place her in the all-time top 20 at No. 20. She has secured 99 combined wins during her time at EMU, needing one more to reach 100 for her career. She could also move up with wins at Ball State. Should she win in doubles, Vichare would bring her career total to 61 and tie her for 17th all-time with both Shar Gamarnik (2000-03) and Jean Kansuthi (1997-99) while one win overall (singles or doubles) would mark the 100th combined win of her career.

KNOW THE FOE: BALL STATE
The Cardinals are 10-9 on the year and 4-5 in MAC play after dropping a tough 4-3 decision at Toledo (April 13) after scoring a 5-2 win over Bowling Green (April 11). Ball State is 7-1 at home this season and won its first six matches of the season before suffering a 4-3 loss to visiting Buffalo (March 28). Since then, BSU's lone home contest was the 5-2 win over the Falcons last week.

IN THE SERIES: BALL STATE
The Eagles are 34-15 all-time against the Cardinals with the teams trading home wins in each of the last four meetings, including this year's 4-3 home win for Eastern (March 23). When playing in Muncie, the Eagles lead, 13-8, but have lost the last six meetings, including a 4-3 setback last year (March 24, 2024), the third 4-3 loss in the past six. The last time Eastern was victorious in Muncie was April 6, 2013, in a 5-2 decision that was the last of eight consecutive wins at BSU.

THE LAST TIME VS. THE CARDINALS
Eastern captured a gritty 4-3 win over visiting Ball State, March 23, as the Eagles came from behind to win their first MAC dual of the season. After dropping the doubles point, EMU responded with Daniella Shved winning at No. 2 to tie the score. After a singles win for BSU, Marta Komar won her No. 5 bout to tie the score again. The Cardinals won again to take a 3-2 lead and push the Eagles to the brink, but three-set wins by Viki Hazumkova (No. 1) and Prerna Vichare (No. 3) gave the Eagles the final two points and the team win.

FAMILIAR FACE
When the Eagles and Cardinals meet, it will mark the first time EMU graduate assistant Masha Polishchuk makes her return to Muncie with another team. Polishchuk opened her collegiate career playing three seasons in Muncie (2020-23) and was a three-time All-MAC performer, including being named the 2023 MAC Player of the Year and the 2023 MAC Tournament MVP. She played her final season at Texas Tech, where she graduated in 2024, before joining the EMU coaching staff this year.

QUICK RECAP: HOME SWEEP
Eastern swept a pair of home MAC duals last week, including decisions of 5-2 over Northern Illinois (April 11) and 5-2 over Bowling Green (April 13). The Eagles won the doubles points in both contests before going on to win. Against the Huskies, NIU tied the match at 1-1 before consecutive wins by Sabina Brichackova (No. 3), Viki Hazmukova (No. 2), Daniella Shved (No. 1), and Prerna Vichare (No. 4) secured the win for the hosts. Then, against the Falcons, EMU won the first four singles played to jump to a 5-0 lead before BGSU won the final two bouts in third-set tiebreakers to close out the dual.

SENIOR SENDOFF
Prior to the win over Bowling Green (April 13), the Eagles honored its four seniors with Senior Day festivities. The celebrated group included Sabina Brichackova, Marta Komar, Lily Tria, and Prerna Vichare.

HOME PROTECTION
Since taking over the program ahead of the 2023-24 season, the Eagles hold a 21-2 record at home under Ryan Kucera, a mark that included the Eagles going a perfect 11-0 at home last year and 10-2 this year. In the previous six seasons played ahead of Kucera's arrival, the Eagles were 21-30, including a 3-4 mark in the 2022-23 season. The win totals also rank as the most (11) and second-most (10) in single-season history for the program.

KEEPING IT CLOSE
Following their loss at Toledo (April 4), the Eagles had played five consecutive matches that ended in 4-3 scores with the Eagles holding a 2-3 record. The streak stood as the longest single-season streak of one-point scores and tied for the longest overall streak after EMU closed the 2022 season with three consecutive 4-3 scores (home win over Northern Illinois, home loss to Western Michigan, and road loss at Ball State) before opening the 2023 season with back-to-back losses (at Cleveland State and at Chicago State). Overall, EMU is 111-100 all-time in one-point matches and 44-47 in MAC matches.

IN A CLINCH
Viki Hazmukova has been the closer for the Eagles this season as she has won the clinching point for the team twice in three wins with both coming at the No. 2 singles position. Additionally, of the 10 doubles points won, Hazmukova has been part of four winning teams, pairing with Marta Komar twice and once each with Sabina Brichackova and Iva Daneva.

ON THE HORIZON
The Eagles' 2024-25 season has come to an end.

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

Viki Hazmukova

Marta Komar

Daniella Shved

Lily Tria

Prerna Vichare

Eastern Michigan Athletics