BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – WKU Women's Tennis will host FIU on Friday at 12:30 p.m. CT at the Warren County Tennis Facility at Michael O. Buchanon Park.
MATCH INFO
- FIU (4-2 overall, 0-0 CUSA) at WKU (9-4 overall, 1-0 CUSA)
- Friday, March 7 | 12:30 p.m. CT
- Warren County Tennis Facility at Michael O. Buchanon Park | Bowling Green, Ky.
- Free Admission
- Social: @WKUTennis | @WKUSports
ABOUT THE LADY TOPPERS
- WKU has won three consecutive matches and enters Friday's contest with a 9-4 overall record, a 7-3 home record and a 1-0 record against CUSA opponents.
- Friday's match will be the sixth in a nine-match homestand. WKU has gone 4-1 during the homestand, with wins over Missouri State, Eastern Illinois, Jax State and Southern Indiana. The loss came against Samford, 4-3.
- WKU's seven home wins are tied for third-most in a single season in program history. The Lady Toppers won 12 home matches in 2022, 11 in 2024 and seven in 2023.
- The Lady Toppers swept the CUSA Women's Tennis weekly awards this week. Sofia Blanco was named the CUSA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week, and Blanco and Rachel Hermanova were named the CUSA Women's Tennis Doubles Team of the Week.
- WKU has won the doubles point in nine of its 13 matches this season.
- Emily Schut and Mia Miranda have led WKU in doubles this season with their 8-2 record. The two have gone 4-1 from both the No. 1 and 2 positions.
- Sofia Blanco and Rachel Hermanova have won their last three matches to improve to 7-5 this season in doubles play entering Friday's match.
- Blanco has 45 career doubles wins, which ranks second on WKU's career doubles wins list.
- Hermanova has 23 career doubles wins, which ranks 12th in program history and is one win away from being tied for 11th in program history in the category.
- Mariana Zegada has 37 career doubles wins, which is tied for third-most in program history with Cora-Lynn von Dungern.
- Hermanova is 8-4 this season in singles, with all matches coming at the No. 1 position. Her 57 career singles wins are a program record.
- Blanco has won six straight matches and is 10-2 this season. She has 50 career singles wins, which ranks second in program history.
- Sunskrithi Damera has won her last six matches. She enters the match on Friday with a 7-3 record. Her 27 career singles wins are 10th-most in program history.
- Emily Schut is 9-1 this season in singles, with wins in her last five finishes.
- Mia Miranda has won three straight matches to improve to 7-5 in singles this season.
- Mariana Zegada is 6-4 this season. Her 29 career singles wins rank ninth in program history, and she is one win away from being tied for eighth.
- Head Coach Greg Davis is 331-186 all-time as a college head coach, which includes 72 wins with the Lady Toppers. Davis ranks fourth in wins by a WKU Women's Tennis Head Coach. He is now three wins away from being tied for third on WKU's career coaching wins list. 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
- "FIU has been the gold standard in the conference the last few years since I've been here. Friday's going to be a very challenging match. They're well-coached. They had a great win over Miami earlier in the season. We look forward to competing against them. We have a lot of respect for the program. We invite the public to come out at 12:30 tomorrow to watch the match." – WKU Women's Tennis Head Coach Greg Davis, on the match against FIU on Friday.
- "It's definitely giving us a good evaluation of what's ahead. They're both really tough teams and I know we're playing a couple more conference teams before the conference tournament, so it'll give us a measuring stick so we know how we stack up against them." – WKU Women's Tennis junior Elizabeth Sobieski, on facing CUSA competition.
- "Coach mentioned this morning that we have 40 days left until the conference tournament. It's a lot closer than it seems, so it's nice that we get to play a few of the teams before we actually get there." – WKU Women's Tennis sophomore Mia Miranda, on facing CUSA competition.
- "I think it was about being consistent on the court with our game and our mentality. I think every match was very tough, but as a doubles pair, we were able to overcome every challenge. Even though we fell against Samford, we still played really well, we competed and that's what we're trying to bring every game from now on." – WKU Women's Tennis senior Sofia Blanco, on the team's success last week.
- "When things get tough, we have to get tougher. Friday against Florida International is just another opportunity that we get to have and we get to compete, and we just have to make the best out of it." – WKU Women's Tennis senior Rachel Hermanova, on Friday's match against FIU.
SERIES INFORMATION
- WKU trails FIU 4-0 in the all-time series. The Panthers won the last meeting 5-2 in Bowling Green during the 2021 season.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
- FIU is 4-2 overall this spring, with a pair of wins over Miami, a win over North Florida and a win over North Texas. The Panthers lost to then-No. 19 Florida and then-No. 20 UCF.
- The Panthers are coached by Katarina Petrovic, who is in her 13th season leading the program.
- FIU has two players ranked in the latest ITA Division I Women's Tennis Singles Rankings. Ekaterina Khayrutdinova is ranked No. 75 nationally and Oyinlomo Quadre is ranked No. 91 nationally.
For all the latest on WKU Women's Tennis, follow @WKUTennis on Twitter and Instagram.
