Thursday, Oct. 8, Women's Tennis Schedule
EMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
UMass @ ITA New England Regional
Miami @ ITA Ohio Valley Regional
WMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
BGSU @ ITA Midwest Regional
Friday, Oct. 9, Women's Tennis Schedule
Buffalo @ WNY Invite
EMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
UMass @ ITA New England Regional
Miami @ ITA Ohio Valley Regional
WMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
BGSU @ ITA Midwest Regional
Saturday, Oct. 10, Women's Tennis Schedule
EMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
UMass @ ITA New England Regional
Miami @ ITA Ohio Valley Regional
WMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
BGSU @ ITA Midwest Regional
Sunday, Oct. 11, Women's Tennis Schedule
EMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
UMass @ ITA New England Regional
Miami @ ITA Ohio Valley Regional
WMU @ ITA Midwest Regional
BGSU @ ITA Midwest Regional
Previews courtesy of Athletic Communications Departments
Eastern Michigan Eagles
The Eastern Michigan University tennis team will travel to Urbana, Ill., and the Atkins Tennis Center this week to compete in the 2026 ITA Midwest Regional Championships, hosted by the University of Illinois, Oct. 8-12. The annual event, which is one of 13 regional competitions held throughout the United States, will crown one singles and one doubles champion that will advance to the NCAA Championships.
FIRST SERVES
» Eastern is set to play its third tournament of the fall season when it competes at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships this week.
Matilde Parreira and
Valentina Salek have both won a team-leading four matches this fall with Salek coming off a runner-up showing at the Spartan Invitational (Oct. 4).
» Along with the play of
Matilde Parreira and
Valentina Salek, two other Eagles posted a pair of wins at the Spartan Invitational with
Lara Diaz Zayas (Flight D) and
Kseniia Saenko (Flight E) both posting 2-1 records.
» Eastern players have been tough outs already this fall as 16-of-43 singles matches have gone to a deciding third set with the Eagles holding an 8-8 record, including a 7-5 mark in matches played at the Spartan Invitational. At the MSU event, all eight Eagles played at least one three-set match with
Kseniia Saenko playing to a third set in all three of her matches as she went 2-1 on the weekend.
» Two players made their Eastern Michigan debuts in the EMU Hidden Duals (Sept. 25-26) as
Maria Batinic and
Valentina Salek both competed in singles and doubles action over the weekend. Batinic posted a 2-2 record as she was 1-1 in singles and 1-1 in doubles while Salek was 3-3 overall with a 2-1 record in singles and a 1-2 mark in doubles. Additionally, the event marked the first for
Jeff Westmeyer as head coach of the Eagles and the first for his two assistants,
Casey Smith and
Elina Ivanova.
» Several first victories were recorded at the EMU Hidden Duals by Eastern players.
Maria Batinic and
Valentina Salek, who played at NCAA Division II Findlay last year, secured their first wins in singles and doubles with the team and as members of an NCAA Division I program while
Pehal Kharadkar captured the first two doubles wins of her career in her second collegiate season with the Eagles.
»
Matilde Parreira and
Valentina Salek led the way in singles action at the EMU Hidden Duals as both recorded a pair of victories to open their seasons. Parreira won both of her matches in straight sets while Salek battled to a three-set victory in her debut (6-4, 1-6, 1-0(6)) before winning her second in straight sets.
» 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.
»
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.
Miami RedHawks
Miami Tennis competed in the Indiana Invitational last weekend. The team heads to the Ohio Valley Regional Championship Oct. 8-11 in Mason, Ohio.
Bowling Green Falcons
The Bowling Green State University women's tennis team heads to Urbana, Ill., to participate in the ITA Midwest Regionals. The event, hosted by the University of Illinois, runs from Thursday through Monday (Oct. 8-12) at the Atkins Tennis Center.
Six members of the Falcons are scheduled to participate, including seniors
Libby Blair and
Qianyu Liu, juniors
Konstantina Adamopoulou and
Lucia Gaio, sophomore
Kiera Taylor and freshman
McKenzie Shelton.
The regional marks the Falcons' third competition of the young season, as BGSU has participated in the Eastern Michigan Hidden Dual (Sept. 25-26) and the Rocket Invitational (Oct. 2-3) so far this fall.
The singles and doubles draws were announced on Wednesday evening (Oct. 7). Shelton has been placed in the main singles draw, and her Round of 64 match will be against Northwestern's Erica Jessel, with date and time TBA. In the qualifying draw, Gaio and Blair each will meet a Northwestern player as well, with Gaio facing Aely Arai in an 11:00 a.m. ET match on Thursday. At that same time, Blair will square off against the Wildcats' Philippa Farber. And, at noon Eastern, Liu will face Western Michigan's Ayana Yaguchi.
In doubles, Blair and Taylor will meet the DePaul duo of Sasha Sakura Stula and Clara Nilsson, while the Gaio/Shelton tandem will face WMU's Frida Weijerman and Julie Hostakova. And, Adamopoulou and Lui will take on the UIC team of Marta Halbersztadt and Nia Cooper. Doubles play begins on Friday (Oct. 9).
