Tennis Lifts Lid Hosting EMU Hidden Duals This Week

2026 FALL TOURNAMENT #1 - EMU HIDDEN DUALS
Date	Friday-Sunday, Sept. 25-26, 2026 \| 9:30 a.m. daily
Venue	Chippewa Club \| Ypsilanti, Mich.
Preview Info	EMU Notes (pdf)
Live	n/a
Social Media	X: @EMUEaglesTennis \| Instagram: @EMU_Tennis

YPSILANTI (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University tennis program will lift the lid on its 50th varsity campaign this week as the Eagles will play host to the EMU Hidden Duals, Friday-Saturday, Sept. 25-26, at the Chippewa Club in Ypsilanti, Mich. The Eagles will welcome competitors from Bowling Green, Ferris State, and Toledo to town as each team will play one another in singles and doubles play over the course of two days with action set to begin at 9:30 a.m. each day. Admission to the event is free.

EVENT SCHEDULE OF PLAY

Friday, Sept. 25

Time	Event	Match	Courts
8:30 a.m.	Warm-ups		All
9:30 a.m.	Singles - R1	Eastern Michigan vs. Toledo	1-8
11:30 a.m.	Singles - R1	Bowling Green vs. Ferris State	1-8
1:30 p.m.	Doubles - R1	Eastern Michigan vs. Bowling Green	1-4
	Doubles - R1	Ferris State vs. Toledo	5-8
3:30 p.m.	Singles - R2	Eastern Michigan vs. Ferris State	1-4
	Singles - R2	Bowling Green vs. Toledo	5-8

Saturday, Sept. 26

Time	Event	Match	Courts
8:30 a.m.	Warm-ups		All
9:30 a.m.	Doubles - R2	Eastern Michigan vs. Toledo	1-4
	Doubles - R2	Bowling Green vs. Ferris State	5-8
10:30 a.m.	Doubles - R3	Eastern Michigan vs. Ferris State	1-4
	Doubles - R3	Bowling Green vs. Toledo	5-8
12 p.m.	Singles - R3	Eastern Michigan vs. Bowling Green	1-4
	Singles - R3	Ferris State vs. Toledo	5-8

All matches will be played outdoors at the Chippewa Club (2525 Golfside Rd., Ypsilanti 48197)
Admission is free!

FIRST SERVES
» The 2026-27 season marks the 50th in the program's varsity history as Eastern has fielded a team every year since 1976-77 except for the 2017-18 campaign. The Eagles are 555-479 all-time and have captured two Mid-American Conference titles (1998 and 2001). The 4-2 win at St. Francis (Pa.), Jan. 24, 2026, stands as the 550th victory in program history.
» The 2026-27 roster features eight players with six returning from the 2025-26 roster, including fourth-year player Kseniia Saenko, third-year players Iva Daneva and Lara Diaz Zayas, and second-year players Pehal Kharadkar, Matilde Parreira, and Sabrina Tolstova.
» The Eagles welcomed a pair of transfers to the roster this year in Maria Batinic, a second-year player, and Valentina Salek, who is in her fourth year. Both come to Ypsilanti after competing for Findlay in their previous collegiate seasons.
» Jeff Westmeyer was hired over the summer as the program's 12th head coach and brings a wealth of success to town after leading both the women's and men's programs at Findlay, an NCAA Division II program in Ohio. During his time in Findlay, his women earn berths in the NCAA Midwest Region tournament all five years and won the regional title in 2026 before reaching the NCAA Elite 8. He also guided the team to five G-MAC titles while the men's program reached the NCAA Tournament in 2026 as well.
» The coaching staff is rounded out by two newcomers in Casey Smith (assistant) and Elina Ivanova (graduate assistant). Smith came to EMU from Henderson State where she was a graduate assistant after playing at Lewis University while Ivanova served as a graduate assistant at Illinois-Springfield last year following her playing career at Findlay under Jeff Westmeyer.
» The Eagles' 2026 fall slate will see the team compete in five events. Along with its own fall-opening event this week, Eastern will play at Michigan State twice with the ITA Midwest Regional Championships (Champaign, Ill.) and MAC Individuals (Kalamazoo) sandwiched between.
» The 2027 spring dual slate features 21 matches, including nine at home and 12 on the road. Throughout the spring season, which runs from January through May, the Eagles will compete in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee and could add Massachusetts to the list by finishing in the top four of the MAC standings and advance to the 2027 MAC Championships, May 1-2, in Amherst, Mass.
» Eastern finished the 2026 spring season with a 10-12 record and a 1-7 mark in the MAC.
» Entering the year, Eastern holds a 25-5 home record since the start of the 2023-24 season after going 21-30 in the six seasons prior to that stretch.

NEW ELIGIBILITY MODEL
The 2026-27 academic year will feature the first seasons under the NCAA's new age-based eligibility model, which has been commonly referred to as the 'five-in-five' model. Under the new legislation, student-athletes will have five years to play five seasons with redshirts, medical hardships, and other waivers seeking additional years of competition being eliminated. Eastern Michigan student-athletes across all sports will be listed with a 'Y' number to indicate the year of eligibility they are currently competing. For example, Kseniia Saenko is listed as a Y-4, meaning she is in her fourth year and has two seasons (2026-27 and 2027-28) to compete while transfer Maria Batinic is a Y-2, meaning she is in her second year and has four seasons to compete (2026-27, 2027-28, 2028-29, and 2029-30).

NIFTY 50
The 2026-27 season will mark the 50th varsity campaign for Eastern Michigan Tennis, which first competed as a varsity program in 1976-77 and has competed every year since then apart from the 2018-19 academic year when Eastern Michigan did not field a team. In the previous 49 years of competition, EMU has won 555 duals and secured two Mid-American Conference titles (1998 and 2001), finished as the MAC runner-up five times, and competed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.

WELCOME BACK!
The 2026-27 roster features eight players with six returning from last year, including Iva Daneva, Lara Diaz Zayas, Pehal Kharadkar, Matilde Parreira, Kseniia Saenko, and Sabrina Tolstova. Saenko is entering her fourth year with the program and has combined to grab 52 career combined wins during her time with the Eagles while both Daneva and Diaz Zayas are back for their third years. The remaining three Eagles - Kharadkar, Parreira, and Tolstova - are back for their second seasons and combined to win 53-percent of the singles wins recorded last year while adding 45-percent of the doubles victories.

HELLO! MY NAME IS...
Eastern added a pair of players to its roster over the summer with both Maria Batinic and Valentina Salek transferring into the program after competing for Jeff Westmeyer at Findlay.
» Batinic enters her second collegiate season after a highly successful rookie campaign in 2025-26 with the Oilers. A native of nearby Rochester Hills, she captured 36 combined wins as she was 20-4 in singles play and 16-5 in doubles action. In singles play, the then-rookie went 16-3 in dual action, including 6-0 in G-MAC play, as she stood 4-2 at No. 1 singles and 12-1 at No. 2.
» Salek was a three-year member of the Findlay team under Westmeyer and combined to collect over 100 wins for the Oilers as she built a 53-17 mark in singles play and a 56-13 record in doubles. In singles, she played primarily at the No. 3 spot (25-4) and was also 10-2 at No. 4 and 7-5 at No. 2. She went 23-4 at the No. 2 doubles position in her three years as well.

LOOKING TO REPLACE
The Eagles will be without two contributors from last year as Regina Mendez Carreño graduated and 2025-26 MAC Freshman of the Year Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya transferred. Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya led the team with 17 singles while Mendez Carreño ranked fifth with 12 as the duo added a combined 17 doubles win to the team total as well.

TAKING THE HELM
Jeff Westmeyer was named the 12th head coach in program history over the summer and will look to take the Eagles to the heights his teams at Findlay reached over the past five years. While with the Oilers, Westmeyer's teams captured five G-MAC titles and advanced to the NCAA Midwest Region Tournament each season. Last year, his team went 22-2 and captured both the regular season and tournament titles in the G-MAC before winning the regional crown and advancing to the NCAA Division II Tournament where Findlay won in the first round before falling in the Elite Eight. In addition to his work with the women, Westmeyer was named the men's head coach last season as well and guided the team to the NCAA regional competition as well. Westmeyer enters the 2026-27 season with a career record of 100-35 as a women's collegiate head coach, including a 37-6 home record.

NO STRANGER TO THE MAC
During his time with Findlay, Jeff Westmeyer's Oilers played eight matches against NCAA Division I teams, including three members of the MAC in Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, and Toledo. Westmeyer, who played for and earned his degree from BGSU and added another degree from Toledo (Master's), went 1-1 against the Falcons, 0-2 against the Eagles, and 0-1 against the Rockets. His teams were 3-0 against two other NCAA DI programs, including a 1-0 mark against Army and 2-0 against Bucknell. In addition to his time with BGSU and Toledo (assistant), he also served as an assistant coach at both Michigan State and Virginia.

HAPPY TO HELP
The coaching staff is rounded out by two newcomers this year in Casey Smith (assistant coach) and Elina Ivanova (graduate assistant). Smith played her collegiate tennis at Lewis University and recently served as a graduate assistant coach at Henderson State before coming to Ypsilanti. Ivanova is no stranger to Jeff Westmeyer as she competed for him at Findlay for four years before serving as a graduate assistant last year at Illinois-Springfield.

SCHEDULE SET • FALL
The first year of play under Jeff Westmeyer gets started this week as the Eagles will compete in five fall events, starting with the EMU Hidden Duals (Sept. 25-26). The remaining fall slate sees Eastern compete in the Michigan State Classic (Oct. 2-4), the ITA Midwest Regional Championships in Champaign, Ill. (Oct. 8-11), the MAC Individual Championships in Kalamazoo (Oct. 23-25), and the Spartan Invitational (Nov. 6-8) in East Lansing.

SCHEDULE SET • SPRING
Eastern is scheduled to play 21 duals in its spring season with nine coming on its home courts at the Chippewa Club. The Eagles will welcome Eastern Kentucky (Jan. 22), Ferris State (Jan. 24), Youngstown State (Feb. 20), Bowling Green (March 12), Oakland (March 14), Valparaiso (March 20), UMass (April 2), Ball State (April 9), and Miami (April 16) this year while playing on the road 12 times. Some of the road matches include intrastate foes Michigan State (Feb. 6) and Western Michigan (March 26) along with 'Power 4' opponents Purdue (Jan. 31) and Northwestern (Feb. 13). The dual season starts Jan. 16 with a road trip to Cleveland State.

MITTEN MATCHES
The 2027 spring schedule will see Eastern face four fellow Michigan schools with two each at home and on the road. The Eagles, who went 3-2 against the Mitten State last year, will play host to Ferris State (Jan. 24) and Oakland (Feb. 6) while playing on the road against both Michigan State (Feb. 6) and Western Michigan (March 26). Heading into the season, Eastern holds a record of 106-116 against intrastate opponents with a 39-24 record in sweeps and a 19-22 mark in matches decided by one point.

SEEING THE MIDWEST... AND BEYOND
Throughout the 2026-27 season, including fall tournaments and spring duals, Eastern will compete in matches in seven states with the possibility of more to be added in the postseason. In the fall, the Eagles will compete in Michigan four times, including once each in Ypsilanti and Kalamazoo and twice in East Lansing, and once in Illinois (Champaign). The spring will see Eastern play matches in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee with Massachusetts to be added to the list should the Eagles qualify for the MAC Championships in Amherst, Mass.

HIGH REGARD
In the spring, the Eagles will meet several teams that held rankings in the final 2025-26 ITA National and Regional rankings. On a national scale, Northwestern finished the year at No. 60 while Michigan State was No. 66 in the final ITA Top 75. Regionally, EMU will face three teams that appeared in the final ITA Midwest Top 10, including No. 6 Northwestern, No. 7 Michigan State, and No. 9 Toledo while also facing off with teams from the ITA New England Top 10 in No. 6 UMass and No. 10 Buffalo and the ITA Ohio Valley Top 10 in No. 5 Xavier, No. 8 Purdue, and No. 10 Austin Peay. Of those matches, only the match with UMass will be played at home in Ypsilanti.

HOME TOUGH HOME
Over the past three seasons, the Chippewa Club has been a tough venue for visiting teams as the Eagles went 25-5, including a 2023-24 campaign that finished with an 11-0 record at home. In the previous six seasons prior (2016-17 through 2022-23), Eastern was 21-30 on its home courts. The Eagles will be home nine times in 2027 and will look to add to it strong home defense numbers.

ON THE HORIZON
Eastern is back in action at the Michigan State Classic, hosted by Michigan State, Oct. 2-4, in East Lansing, Mich.

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

Maria Batinic

Iva Daneva

Lara Diaz Zayas

Pehal Kharadkar

Matilde Parreira

Kseniia Saenko

Valentina Salek

Sabrina Tolstova

Cylova Zuleyka Hukmasabiyya

Eastern Michigan Athletics