BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Women's Tennis is scheduled to make its first road trip of the season with matches at Northern Kentucky on Friday and at Cincinnati on Saturday.
MATCH INFO
WKU (3-1 overall, 0-0 CUSA) at NKU (0-2 overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
- Friday, Feb. 7 | 3 p.m. CT
- Five Seasons Sports Club | Crestview Hills, Ky.
WKU at Cincinnati (4-1 overall, 0-0 Big 12)
- Saturday, Feb. 8 | 12:30 p.m. CT
- Western Athletic Club | Cincinnati
ABOUT THE LADY TOPPERS
- The Lady Toppers enter the weekend's matches with a 3-1 record, with all four matches coming at home.
- Emily Schut enters the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record in singles play from the No. 6 spot, while Rachel Hermanova and Sofia Blanco are each 3-1 from the No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively.
- Hermanova enters the weekend with 52 career singles wins – the most in program history.
- Blanco has 43 singles wins during her WKU career, which is one away from being tied for second in program history.
- Mariana Zegada is 2-1 this season and now has 25 career singles wins, which is tied for ninth in program history.
- WKU has won the doubles point in three of its four matches so far this season. The only match WKU did not win the doubles point was against SIUE.
- Emily Schut/Mia Miranda are 3-1 in doubles this season, while Zegada/Sunskrithi Damera are 2-0 and Hermanova/Blanco are 2-1.
- Blanco is second all-time in program history with 40 career doubles wins, while Zegada is fourth with 34.
- Head Coach Greg Davis is 325-183 all-time as a college head coach, which includes 66 wins with the Lady Toppers. With last Friday's win over SIUE, he is now tied with Ray Rose for fourth all-time in wins by a WKU Women's Tennis coach. Davis entered the season ranked 29th in total wins and 36th in winning percentage among active Division I women's tennis head coaches with at least five years as a Division I head coach.
QUOTABLE
- "This will be a really big test for us. One, it's the first time we've been on the road this year and we're going into two places where we just haven't been able to get across the finish line since I've been here. Northern Kentucky is always a tough place to play at and Cincinnati is an extremely good team this year. Both teams are very well coached and we know we are going to have two difficult matches this weekend going into Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati." – WKU Women's Tennis Head Coach Greg Davis, on traveling to NKU and Cincinnati.
- "They're going to be challenging. It's going to be our first away match of the season, so we're just going to have to learn how to adapt to a new place, especially when we play the same day that we arrive. But I'm really confident that we have the team to be able to beat them." – WKU Women's Tennis senior Sofia Blanco, on facing NKU and Cincinnati.
- "I feel like we've been getting better every match and more comfortable on the court, so I'm excited to see how that transfers into a new environment. I personally have never been to either of those schools, so it'll be nice to just see how it is. It is uncomfortable, but also we're going to have the girls around us and coach, so it'll be a good environment." – WKU Women's Tennis sophomore Mia Miranda, on the first road trip of the season.
SERIES INFORMATION
- WKU is 4-5 all-time against NKU, but have won two of the last three meetings, including a 7-0 victory last season in Bowling Green. The Norse have claimed four consecutive victories over the Lady Toppers in matches played at NKU, and WKU's only win in such matches came in the 2013 season.
- The Lady Toppers are 2-2 against Cincinnati. The Bearcats have claimed the last two meetings, which came in 2021 and 2023. All four matches have been played at Cincinnati.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
NKU
- The Norse enter with an 0-2 record, with losses at home to Eastern Kentucky and at Dayton.
- NKU returned six players from last season's team, which made it to the Horizon League semifinals.
- The Norse are coached by Brian Nester, who is in his 13th season leading the school's tennis programs.
Cincinnati
- The Bearcats are 4-1 overall, with wins over EKU, Eastern Michigan, Oakland and Butler, and a loss at Indiana.
- Cincinnati returned seven of its eight players from the 2024 season and brought in two new players, including Zeynep Erman, who is 5-0 in singles this season from the No. 1 position.
- Eric Toth is in his 11th season as Cincinnati's head coach. He holds the record for most spring wins in program history.
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