Tennis Opens Season Hosting Block E Invitational

FALL TOURNAMENT #1 - BLOCK E INVTATIONAL
Date	Friday-Saturday, Sept. 19-20, 2025 \| 9 a.m. both days
Venue	The Chippewa Club \| Ypsilanti, Mich.
Preview Info	EMU Notes (pdf)
Live	n/a
Social Media	X: @EMUEaglesTennis \| Instagram: @EMU_Tennis

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University tennis team opens the fall portion of its 2025-26 season this weekend as the Eagles will play host to the Block E Invitational Friday-Saturday, Sept. 19-20, at the Chippewa Club in Ypsilanti. Eastern will welcome players from Bowling Green State University, Oakland University, the University of Toledo, and Youngstown State University for the two-day event that will feature players competing in three singles and three doubles matches. Admission at the Chippewa Club is free for all spectators with action starting on the outdoor courts at 9 a.m. each day.

FIRST SERVES
» 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 sophomore, 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
Five teams comprise the field for the 2025 Block E Invitational with the Eagles being joined by fellow Mid-American Conference foes Bowling Green and Toledo while Oakland and Youngstown State round out the teams. BGSU, Oakland, and Youngstown State are all returning to the event after playing last year with Toledo the lone team making its debut in the event.

EVENT INFO: THE FORMAT
The two-day event will start at 9 a.m. with doubles action leading things off. On Friday, Sept. 19, players will compete in one doubles match and two singles matches with the second singles match not scheduled to start any earlier than 1 p.m. The next day, Sept. 20, action will once again start at 9 a.m. with the players competing in two doubles matches before playing their final singles match. The players have been divided into nine groups of four (Group 9 will have five players) and four groups of doubles, allowing for round robin competition in each group. The best record in each group will be crowned the group winner for the event.

EVENT INFO: THE COURTS
The Block E Invitational will take place on the eight outdoor courts at the Chippewa Club with the indoor facility serving as the backup location in case of inclement weather. Fans can access the club off Golfside Road with the outdoor courts on the left side of the road. NOTE: the football team will play its Homecoming Game at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Fans are encouraged to plan accordingly in their travels to and from the Chippewa Club as traffic may be heavier than normal in the area.

WELCOME TO YPSILANTI!
Four freshmen have made their way to Ypsilanti with two each hailing from Europe and Asia. The rookies include:
» Pehal Kharadkar comes to town by way of Indore, India, after competing in numerous ITF events in which she reached several quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. She helped her prep school Daly College Indore, to six consecutive All India IPSC titles and won the individual title in her final three years.
» Matilde Parreira is a native of Leiria, Portugal, and was a multiple-time regional and national champion, including at the U16 and U18 levels. A finalist in four ITF doubles events, she climbed as high as 1,383 in the WTA rankings.
» Sabrina Tolstova hails from Odesa, Ukraine, and played her prep tennis on the Canary Island where rose to No. 414 in the ITF rankings. The No. 1 player in Ukraine (U14) and a member of the U14 national team, she climbed as his as No. 4 in Spain among U16 players and No. 33 overall. A U16 and U18 champion of both Tenerife and Canary Islands, she captained her team at the Spanish U16 Championships (quarterfinals).
» Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya is a native of Serang, Indonesia, and has been ranked No. 1 in both the U16 and U18 circuit in Indonesia. A four-time ITF Junior singles champion and two-time winner in doubles, she has competed for her home country at the Billie Jean King Cup and helped her team to a fourth-place finish in Asia/Oceania Group II in 2024.

BACK FOR MORE
The Eagles are welcoming back four players from the 2024-25 team, including Iva Daneva, Lara Diaz Zayas, Regina Mendez Carreño, and Kseniia Saenko. Daneva and Diaz Zayas are both entering their second years as collegiate competitors with Saenko set for her junior year and Mendez Carreño ready for he senior season.

SENIOR YEAR
Regina Mendez Carreño is the lone senior on the team this season and heads into her final collegiate following her best campaign to date. During the 2024-25 season, she posted 12 singles and four doubles victories for 16 combined wins, five more combined wins than she had her previous two seasons with the Eagles. Mendez Carreño entered the 2024-25 season with eight singles and three doubles wins to her credit before winning 12 singles bouts, including posting an 8-3 record in dual matches last year.

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern is back in action, Oct. 3-5, when it will send several players to Kalamazoo, Mich., to compete in the 2025 Mid-American Conference Fall Individuals. The winner of the singles and doubles competitions will earn berths into the NCAA Championships, Nov. 18-23, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

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

Iva Daneva

Lara Diaz Zayas

Pehal Kharadkar

Matilde Parreira

Kseniia Saenko

Sabrina Tolstova

Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya

Eastern Michigan Athletics