Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, January 23
Youngstown, OH
11 a.m.
Eastern Michigan University
at
Youngstown State
Photo by: Steve King/KingStudios
Tennis Hits the Road for Two Matches this Weekend
1/21/2026 3:28:00 PM | Tennis
Eastern set to play at Youngstown State (Friday) and St. Francis (Saturday)
| Spring Dual #4 | at YOUNGSTOWN STATE | |
| Date | Friday, Jan. 23 | 11 a.m. |
| Venue | YSU Indoor Center | Youngstown, Ohio |
| Preview Info | EMU Notes | Media Guide |
| Live | iOnCourt |
| @EMUEaglesTennis | @EMUAthletics | |
| Spring Dual #5 | at ST. FRANCIS (PA) | |
| Date | Saturday, Jan. 24 | 12 p.m. |
| Venue | Edensburg Tennis Center | Edensburg, Pa. |
| Preview Info | EMU Notes | Media Guide |
| Live | n/a |
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Off to a 3-0 start, the Eastern Michigan University tennis team will look to build upon its early success as the Eagles return to the road for a pair of matches this weekend, including duals at both Youngstown State University and St. Francis University. The trip opens Friday, Jan. 23, at 11 a.m. with a dual against the Penguins inside the YSU Indoor Tennis Center in Youngstown, Ohio, before concluding Saturday, Jan. 24, in a 12 p.m. contest inside the Edensburg Tennis Center in Edensburg, Pa., against the host Red Flashes. The match at SFU was pushed ahead one day from its originally scheduled date because of inclement weather expected in the area Sunday.
FIRST SERVES
» The Eagles swept their opening weekend with a 6-1 home win over Cleveland State before taking both matches of a road doubleheader at Ferris State, 6-1 and 4-1.
» Eastern is in its 49th varsity season in 2026 and, following its opening weekend, is now 548-467 all-time. If the Eagles win twice this week, they would record the 550th all-time win in program history.
» Eastern is 3-0 to open a season for just the seventh time in program history and the first time since the 2002-03 squad opened its campaign with sixth consecutive wins.
» EMU has won six consecutive matches after winning the final three in 2025 before winning the first three of 2026. The streak is the longest since EMU won nine in a row during the 2017-18 season.
» After winning just three road matches in the past two years combined, Eastern is 2-0 on the year following the doubleheader sweep at Ferris State. The start also marks just the ninth time in program history Eastern has opened a season 2-0 on the road and the first since starting 4-0 in 2002-03.
» The two wins at Ferris State were the first two of six matches slated against fellow Michigan schools in 2026 as Eastern also will face Oakland, Michigan, Wayne State, and Western Michigan. All time, the Eagles are now 105-114 against Michigan teams with a 39-23 record in matches ending in a sweep.
» Under Ryan Kucera, the Eagles have posted a 22-2 record at home, including an 11-0 mark in his debut season (2024), a 10-2 mark last year, and a 1-0 start in 2026. In the six seasons played ahead of Kucera's arrival, the Eagles were 21-30 at home.
» Eastern has been strong in doubles play under Ryan Kucera as they have won 61.2 percent (30-of-49) of the doubles points since the start of the 2024 season. The Eagles were 13-of-23 in 2024 before improving to 14-of-22 last year and have won 3-of-3 this year.
» 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 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.
LAST TIME OUT: THREE WINS
Eastern opened its 2026 spring schedule with a trio of victories as the Eagles scored a 6-1 defeat of Cleveland State (Jan. 17) at home before sweeping a doubleheader at Ferris State (Jan. 19) with scores of 6-1 and 4-1. Eastern captured the doubles point in all three duals and won 13-of-16 singles matches contested, including perfect 3-0 starts for freshmen Sabrina Tolstova and Pehal Kharadkar.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
Over opening weekend, Eastern played 16 singles matches and claimed wins in 13 with five players going undefeated, including both Pehal Kharadkar and Sabrina Tolstova, who posted 3-0 records. Additionally, three other players were 2-0 on the weekend, including Regina Mendez Carreño, Matilde Parreira, and Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya. In doubles play, two teams were perfect on the weekend as well with the duo of Parreira and Tolstova going 3-0 while Iva Daneva and Mendez Carreño were 2-0.
STRONG START
Eastern is off to a 3-0 start to the season for just the seventh time in its 49-year history and its first since the 2002-03 squad opened with a 6-0 mark. The other teams to open at 3-0 or better include teams in 2000-01 (3-0), 1983-84 (6-0), 1982-83 (4-0), 1981-82 (4-0), and 1977-78 (3-0). If Eastern sweeps both matches played this weekend, the 5-0 start would mark the third-best start behind the 6-0 openings of the 2002-03 and 1983-84 teams.
GOING STREAKING
In early April 2025, the Eagles were coming off a three-match losing streak with three matches to play. They made the most of it by winning all three, including home wins over both Northern Illinois (5-2) and Bowling Green (5-2) before capping the season with a 4-3 win at Ball State. Combined with the 3-0 start to the 2026 season, Eastern has now won six consecutive matches for the first time since the 2017-18 team captured nine in a row after starting its season with a 2-3 mark.
ROAD WINS
The doubleheader sweep at Ferris State staked the Eagles to a 2-0 start on the road this year, which not only equaled the team's road total from one year ago, but also marked only the ninth time in program history Eastern has posted a 2-0 road record to open the year. The last time the Eagles accomplished the feat was 2002-03 when it won four consecutive road contests and joins the teams from 2001-02 (3-0), 1985-86 (3-0), 1984-85 (3-0), 1983-84 (6-0), 1981-82 (4-0), 1977-78 (2-0), and 1976-77 (4-0) teams with perfect starts.
SEEKING A MILESTONE
The Eagles are in their 49th varsity season and, with the three wins secured over the weekend, now hold an all-time record of 548-467. If Eastern is able to sweep both duals this weekend, the win at St. Francis would mark the 550th all-time win for the program. The last time the Eagles secured a milestone win came April 16, 2021, in a 6-1 win at Grace (Ind.) to record the 500th program win.
STARTING STRONG • DOUBLES POINT
Eastern has captured the doubles point in all three matches played this season and have secured the point in 61.2 percent of matches played under Ryan Kucera (30-of-49) since the start of the 2024 season. Ahead of his arrival, the Eagles captured the point just four times (26.7 percent) in the 2022-23 season before winning the point 56.5 percent in 2024 (13-of-23) and 60.9 percent last year (14-of-23).
KNOW THE FOE: YOUNGSTOWN STATE
The Penguins enter the week with a 0-1 record after dropping a 7-0 decision at West Virginia. YSU has a veteran team that features five of its eight players in either their senior (two) or junior (three) seasons. Two of those individuals, senior Line Greyling and junior Yeseniia Ovcharova, won the doubles title at the 2025 Horizon League Individual Championships this past fall.
IN THE SERIES: YOUNGSTOWN STATE
The Eagles and Penguins are meeting for the eighth time in the series with Eastern holding a 5-2 all-time lead after winning, 5-2, in the most recent meeting (Feb. 18, 2023, at home). The Penguins, however, hold a 2-1 advantage when hosting the Eagles after breaking the deadlock with a 5-2 win in Youngstown, Ohio, Jan. 31, 2021.
THE LAST TIME VS. THE PENGUINS
Eastern prevailed, 5-2, in the most recent meeting (Feb. 18, 2023) by taking five singles wins to secure the win. After dropping the doubles point and trailing 1-0, EMU won matches at No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 to secure the win with only a three-set loss at No. 3 preventing a perfect run.
KNOW THE FOE: ST. FRANCIS (PA)
Ahead of their home opener, the Red Flashes are 1-3 following a 1-1 record in the fall and two losses last week on the road. SFU won, 5-2, over Binghamton and lost, 6-1, at Buffalo on Oct. 19 to start their dual slate before returning to the court at Navy, Jan. 17, in a 5-2 loss and a 6-1 set back at Penn State one day later.
IN THE SERIES: ST. FRANCIS (PA)
The Eagles and Red Flashes are meeting for just the second time with the first coming Feb. 29, 2020, in Edensburg, Pa., a 5-2 win for EMU.
THE LAST TIME VS. THE RED FLASHES
The Eagles scored a 5-2 win Feb. 29, 2020, in Edensburg, Pa., in the only meeting between the two teams. After dropping the doubles point, Eastern would go on to win five of the six singles matches, including two wins coming in three sets, to secure the road victory.
ON THE HORIZON
Two 'Mitten Matches' await the Eagles next week with one each at home and on the road against fellow Michigan schools. The Eagles open the set by welcoming Oakland University to town for a 1 p.m. contest, Jan. 31, inside the Chippewa Club in Ypsilanti. Eastern will then head north to East Lansing one day later (Feb. 1) to face Michigan State University at 2 p.m.
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.
FIRST SERVES
» The Eagles swept their opening weekend with a 6-1 home win over Cleveland State before taking both matches of a road doubleheader at Ferris State, 6-1 and 4-1.
» Eastern is in its 49th varsity season in 2026 and, following its opening weekend, is now 548-467 all-time. If the Eagles win twice this week, they would record the 550th all-time win in program history.
» Eastern is 3-0 to open a season for just the seventh time in program history and the first time since the 2002-03 squad opened its campaign with sixth consecutive wins.
» EMU has won six consecutive matches after winning the final three in 2025 before winning the first three of 2026. The streak is the longest since EMU won nine in a row during the 2017-18 season.
» After winning just three road matches in the past two years combined, Eastern is 2-0 on the year following the doubleheader sweep at Ferris State. The start also marks just the ninth time in program history Eastern has opened a season 2-0 on the road and the first since starting 4-0 in 2002-03.
» The two wins at Ferris State were the first two of six matches slated against fellow Michigan schools in 2026 as Eastern also will face Oakland, Michigan, Wayne State, and Western Michigan. All time, the Eagles are now 105-114 against Michigan teams with a 39-23 record in matches ending in a sweep.
» Under Ryan Kucera, the Eagles have posted a 22-2 record at home, including an 11-0 mark in his debut season (2024), a 10-2 mark last year, and a 1-0 start in 2026. In the six seasons played ahead of Kucera's arrival, the Eagles were 21-30 at home.
» Eastern has been strong in doubles play under Ryan Kucera as they have won 61.2 percent (30-of-49) of the doubles points since the start of the 2024 season. The Eagles were 13-of-23 in 2024 before improving to 14-of-22 last year and have won 3-of-3 this year.
» 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 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.
LAST TIME OUT: THREE WINS
Eastern opened its 2026 spring schedule with a trio of victories as the Eagles scored a 6-1 defeat of Cleveland State (Jan. 17) at home before sweeping a doubleheader at Ferris State (Jan. 19) with scores of 6-1 and 4-1. Eastern captured the doubles point in all three duals and won 13-of-16 singles matches contested, including perfect 3-0 starts for freshmen Sabrina Tolstova and Pehal Kharadkar.
KEEPING IT CLEAN
Over opening weekend, Eastern played 16 singles matches and claimed wins in 13 with five players going undefeated, including both Pehal Kharadkar and Sabrina Tolstova, who posted 3-0 records. Additionally, three other players were 2-0 on the weekend, including Regina Mendez Carreño, Matilde Parreira, and Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya. In doubles play, two teams were perfect on the weekend as well with the duo of Parreira and Tolstova going 3-0 while Iva Daneva and Mendez Carreño were 2-0.
STRONG START
Eastern is off to a 3-0 start to the season for just the seventh time in its 49-year history and its first since the 2002-03 squad opened with a 6-0 mark. The other teams to open at 3-0 or better include teams in 2000-01 (3-0), 1983-84 (6-0), 1982-83 (4-0), 1981-82 (4-0), and 1977-78 (3-0). If Eastern sweeps both matches played this weekend, the 5-0 start would mark the third-best start behind the 6-0 openings of the 2002-03 and 1983-84 teams.
GOING STREAKING
In early April 2025, the Eagles were coming off a three-match losing streak with three matches to play. They made the most of it by winning all three, including home wins over both Northern Illinois (5-2) and Bowling Green (5-2) before capping the season with a 4-3 win at Ball State. Combined with the 3-0 start to the 2026 season, Eastern has now won six consecutive matches for the first time since the 2017-18 team captured nine in a row after starting its season with a 2-3 mark.
ROAD WINS
The doubleheader sweep at Ferris State staked the Eagles to a 2-0 start on the road this year, which not only equaled the team's road total from one year ago, but also marked only the ninth time in program history Eastern has posted a 2-0 road record to open the year. The last time the Eagles accomplished the feat was 2002-03 when it won four consecutive road contests and joins the teams from 2001-02 (3-0), 1985-86 (3-0), 1984-85 (3-0), 1983-84 (6-0), 1981-82 (4-0), 1977-78 (2-0), and 1976-77 (4-0) teams with perfect starts.
SEEKING A MILESTONE
The Eagles are in their 49th varsity season and, with the three wins secured over the weekend, now hold an all-time record of 548-467. If Eastern is able to sweep both duals this weekend, the win at St. Francis would mark the 550th all-time win for the program. The last time the Eagles secured a milestone win came April 16, 2021, in a 6-1 win at Grace (Ind.) to record the 500th program win.
STARTING STRONG • DOUBLES POINT
Eastern has captured the doubles point in all three matches played this season and have secured the point in 61.2 percent of matches played under Ryan Kucera (30-of-49) since the start of the 2024 season. Ahead of his arrival, the Eagles captured the point just four times (26.7 percent) in the 2022-23 season before winning the point 56.5 percent in 2024 (13-of-23) and 60.9 percent last year (14-of-23).
KNOW THE FOE: YOUNGSTOWN STATE
The Penguins enter the week with a 0-1 record after dropping a 7-0 decision at West Virginia. YSU has a veteran team that features five of its eight players in either their senior (two) or junior (three) seasons. Two of those individuals, senior Line Greyling and junior Yeseniia Ovcharova, won the doubles title at the 2025 Horizon League Individual Championships this past fall.
IN THE SERIES: YOUNGSTOWN STATE
The Eagles and Penguins are meeting for the eighth time in the series with Eastern holding a 5-2 all-time lead after winning, 5-2, in the most recent meeting (Feb. 18, 2023, at home). The Penguins, however, hold a 2-1 advantage when hosting the Eagles after breaking the deadlock with a 5-2 win in Youngstown, Ohio, Jan. 31, 2021.
THE LAST TIME VS. THE PENGUINS
Eastern prevailed, 5-2, in the most recent meeting (Feb. 18, 2023) by taking five singles wins to secure the win. After dropping the doubles point and trailing 1-0, EMU won matches at No. 1, No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 to secure the win with only a three-set loss at No. 3 preventing a perfect run.
KNOW THE FOE: ST. FRANCIS (PA)
Ahead of their home opener, the Red Flashes are 1-3 following a 1-1 record in the fall and two losses last week on the road. SFU won, 5-2, over Binghamton and lost, 6-1, at Buffalo on Oct. 19 to start their dual slate before returning to the court at Navy, Jan. 17, in a 5-2 loss and a 6-1 set back at Penn State one day later.
IN THE SERIES: ST. FRANCIS (PA)
The Eagles and Red Flashes are meeting for just the second time with the first coming Feb. 29, 2020, in Edensburg, Pa., a 5-2 win for EMU.
THE LAST TIME VS. THE RED FLASHES
The Eagles scored a 5-2 win Feb. 29, 2020, in Edensburg, Pa., in the only meeting between the two teams. After dropping the doubles point, Eastern would go on to win five of the six singles matches, including two wins coming in three sets, to secure the road victory.
ON THE HORIZON
Two 'Mitten Matches' await the Eagles next week with one each at home and on the road against fellow Michigan schools. The Eagles open the set by welcoming Oakland University to town for a 1 p.m. contest, Jan. 31, inside the Chippewa Club in Ypsilanti. Eastern will then head north to East Lansing one day later (Feb. 1) to face Michigan State University at 2 p.m.
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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