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The Eastern Michigan University tennis team opened the home portion of its 2024 schedule with a 6-1 victory over visiting Hillsdale College today, Jan. 27, inside the Chippewa Club in Ypsilanti. The Eagles (1-1) opened the dual by claiming the doubles point before running off five consecutive singles wins, handing the Chargers (0-1) a loss in their season debut. The victory not only is the first of the year for the Eagles, but also the first for first-year Head Coach Ryan Kucera.
 
Quoting Kucera
“I am really proud of the effort I saw from the ladies today,” Kucera said. “It is always great to get your first win at home. It was such a great environment today and the ladies really brought it from the beginning with their energy and enthusiasm and it showed in the doubles point. Prerna Vichare and Andrea Quiroz got us off to a great start with the tone they set with their play (in doubles). That is the kind of doubles we want to play, where we’re controlling the types of points, and we are only going to get better at that.
 
“We did not have a letdown in singles, which was great focus from the team,” Kucera continued. “Hillsdale did a great job of making us beat them and we did a great job of finishing the opportunities we created. I am proud of Ksyusha Saenko getting her first dual match win and getting another point on the board for us so quickly. It takes a lot of focus at the college level to win by that score (6-0, 6-1), so I am super proud of her. There are a lot of positives from everybody today. Vidisha Reddy did such an excellent job of working through what she was working on and just building herself as the match went on and finished super strong with that dominant tie break. We have a lot to improve on this early in the year, but that’s why we take these opportunities and we’re super excited for two more opportunities tomorrow against Ferris State.”
 
How It Happened
The Eagles jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the team scoring as they captured the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3. The duo of Andrea Quiroz (Lima, Peru/La Molina 1278/Alcorn State) and Prerna Vichare (Mumbai, India/Narsee Monjee College of Commerce and Economics) started things off with a 6-0 win at No. 2 before the duo of Linda Eloundou (Yaounde, Cameroon/Augustine Meyou/New Mexico Military Institute) and Daniella Shved (Holon, Israel/Ort Holon) combined to win, 6-2, at No. 3.
 
With a 1-0 lead, the Eagles returned to the court for singles play and utilized a trio of sweeps to secure the team victory. Freshman Ksyusha Saenko (Voronezh, Russia/Gymnasium 2) led things off with her 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3 to secure the first dual victory in her young career. She was followed by Eloundou claiming and 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 4. The dual was clinched with the results at No. 2 where Quiroz scored a 6-4, 6-2 win, giving EMU a 4-0 lead in the team scoring.
 
From there, Sabina Brichackova (Cheb, Czech Republic/Gymnázium Jana Blahoslava) took the win at No. 5 in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, before Vidisha Reddy (Hyderabad, India/Villa Marie/Edinboro) battled back to win at No. 5 with her 4-6, 6-3, 10-1 decision. The final point came at the No. 1 position where Vichare battled hard before falling, 3-6, 6-4, 3-10.
 
Notes
›› Eastern improved to 1-1 on the year with the win while Hillsdale fell to 0-1 following its season-opening match.
›› The win is the first for Head Coach Ryan Kucera at the helm of the EMU program. Kucera, who took over at Eastern ahead of the 2023-24 season, is now 28-39 all-time as a collegiate head coach and 1-1 with the Eagles in 2024.
›› The Eagles claimed the doubles point for the first time this season and stands 1-0 when earning the opening point.
›› Saenko picked up her first collegiate dual win with her straight-set victory at No. 3 singles.
›› With the win, the Eagles are 29-17 all-time in their home-opening dual and have won three in a row. Additionally, Eastern improved to 13-7 when its first home match of the season came against a fellow Michigan school.
›› The Eagles improved to 3-0 all-time against Hillsdale with all three wins coming in Ypsilanti. The first two times the teams played were in 1976 and 1977.
›› Eastern is now 95-109 all-time against teams from the state of Michigan and have a chance to add to that total with six more duals against Michigan schools remaining on the 2024 schedule.
 
Up Next
Eastern returns to home action Sunday, Jan. 28, with a doubleheader against Ferris State University inside the Chippewa Club. The first of the two duals will start at 2 p.m. with the second slated for a 5 p.m. first serve.
 
Follow Along
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.
 
Eastern Michigan 6, Hillsdale 1
Jan. 27 • Chippewa Club • Ypsilanti, Mich.
SINGLES
#1: Melanie Zampardo (H) def. Prerna Vichare, 3-6, 6-4, 3-10
#2: Andrea Quiroz (E) def. Libby McGivern, 6-4, 6-2
#3: Ksyusha Saenko (E) def. Julia Wagner, 6-0, 6-1
#4: Linda Eloundou (E) def. Helana Formentin, 6-2, 6-4
#5: Sabina Brichackova (E) def. Megan Hackman, 6-3, 6-3
#6: Vidisha Reddy (E) def. Courtney Rittel, 4-6, 6-3, 10-1
Order of finish: 3, 4, 2, 5, 6, 1
 
DOUBLES
#1: Megan Hackman / Melanie Zampardo (H) def. Sabina Brichackova / Ksyusha Saenko, 6-3
#2: Andrea Quiroz / Prerna Vichare (E) def. Libby McGivern / Courtney Rittel, 6-0
#3: Linda Eloundou / Daniella Shved (E) def. Helana Formentin / Isabella Spinazze, 6-2
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1