PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Tennis hits the road for the first time in 2026, traveling to Springfield, Mo., for an away match against Missouri State and a neutral-site contest against South Dakota.
MATCH INFORMATION – AWAY AT MISSOURI STATE
Where: Cooper Tennis Complex – Springfield, Mo.
When: Friday, January 30 - 7:00 p.m.
Live Scoring:
StatBroadcast
MATCH INFORMATION – NEUTRAL VS. SOUTH DAKOTA
Where: Cooper Tennis Complex – Springfield, Mo.
When: Saturday, January 31 - 5:30 p.m.
PREVIEWING THE BEARS
The Missouri State Bears are 2-3 in dual matches this season, including 1-3 in 2026. The Bears most recently played a doubleheader against Arkansas on Jan. 28, losing 4-0 in both matches. Friday's match will be the spring season home opener for Missouri State, with the Bears having played at Tulsa and Oral Roberts before the matchups in Fayetteville, Ark.
Friday's contest will mark the 32nd all-time meeting between Missouri State and Bradley. The Braves hold a 9-22 overall record against the Bears and have gone 4-9 in matches in Springfield, Mo, including a victory in Springfield in 2023. Since 2015, Bradley is 6-5 against Missouri State.
The prior 31 meetings between the two programs came while both were members of the Missouri Valley Conference, but this will be a non-conference match after Missouri State moved to Conference USA prior to the season.
PREVIEWING THE COYOTES
The South Dakota Coyotes are 2-0 on the young season, but Saturday's match will be the team's first against a Division I opponent. Most recently, South Dakota defeated Division II Sioux Falls at home, 7-0, and opened the season with a 5-0 win over NAIA program Mount Marty.
Saturday's match will be the fifth all-time meeting between Bradley and South Dakota, with the programs splitting the prior four matches. Bradley has won the last two, with the most recent meeting coming on Feb. 13, 2016, as the Braves won at The Clubs at River City, 6-1.
The Coyotes are led by freshman Keta Shavishvili and senior Selena Bird, who lead the Coyotes with eight and seven singles wins, respectively. South Dakota has frequently mixed up the doubles pairings, using 11 different pairings across dual and tournament matches.
LAST TIME OUT
The Braves began the dual season against Butler on Saturday, Jan. 24, at Parkside Fitness in Pekin. The Braves fell to the Bulldogs in a tightly contested match, 4-3. The pair of
Ann Hsieh and
Mariia Pukhina picked up a 6-3 victory on doubles court #2.
Valeriia Ivanovskaia picked up a three-set victory on court one, while both
Ruby Tseng (court four) and Hsieh (court five) earned wins in straight sets in singles play.
COMING UP...
The Braves return home to face Western Illinois on Feb. 6 at Parkside Fitness in Pekin, Ill. First serve is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
