Recap courtesy of Eastern Michigan's Athletic Communications Department
URBANA, Ill. -- The Eastern Michigan University tennis team took on some of the top players in the region over the weekend as the Eagles competed in the 2026 ITA Midwest Regional Championships, Oct. 8-11, at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill. The event, hosted by the University of Illinois, featured several highly ranked individuals in a competition that crowned a champion in singles and doubles with each earning berths into the NCAA Individual Championships later this fall.
How It Happened • Singles
Four Eagles took part in the singles tournament with
Maria Batinic competing in the main draw while the trio of
Lara Diaz Zayas,
Valentina Salek, and
Sabrina Tolstova each playing in the qualifying event. The tournament opened with the qualifying competition where two wins would earn a player a berth into the main draw. In that event, both Salek and Tolstova won their opening matches, but fell in their second-round bouts to be eliminated.
Salek won her opener over Northern Illinois' Iben Storkaas in a three-set battle as she dropped the first set before rallying to the match, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4. She would then face Laura Rahnel of Michigan, who was one of the No. 9-seeded players in the bracket, where she fell, 6-1, 6-0. Tolstova scored a 6-2, 6-4 win over Nicole Iosio of Illinois State in her opening match before battling No. 9-seeded Philippa Farber of Northwestern in a three-set loss, 5-7, 6-0, 7-6(6). Diaz Zayas dropped her opening match to No. 9-seeded Thea Latak of Wisconsin, 6-3, 6-0. In the main draw, Batinic battled to the end in her match with Vittoria Benedetti of Illinois State, but fell 6-1, 7-6(9), after forcing the tiebreaker to an 11-9 score.
How It Happened • Doubles
All eight Eagles took part in the doubles competition with the team of
Iva Daneva and
Matilde Parreira scoring a first-round win to advance to the Round of 32. Daneva and Parreira won a battle in their opener as they scored an 8-7(4) decision over Jessica Sue Li and Elena Palioura of SIU-Edwardsville before falling to No. 14-seeded Farber and Erica Jessel of Northwestern, 8-4. The team of Salek and Tolstova drew the tournament's top-seeded duo in their opener as they fell to the No. 41 pair in the nation, Piper Charney and Reese Miller of Michigan, 8-2. Batinic and
Pehal Kharadkar took on No. 9 seed Anna Bennett and Audrey Spencer of Ohio State and fell, 8-4, while the team of Diaz Zayas and
Kseniia Saenko dropped an 8-3 decision to the Valparaiso team of Brynn Steven and Lacey Tanner.
Up Next
Mid-American Conference titles will be on the line when the Eagles return to the courts as Eastern Michigan will travel across the state to Kalamazoo, Mich., to compete in the 2026 MAC Fall Individual Championships, Oct. 23-25. The three-day event, which will be used to crown the conference's singles and doubles champions, will be hosted by Western Michigan.
