PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Tennis (5-9, 1-1) returns home this weekend for its first home conference matches of the season, hosting Murray State on Friday, April 3, and Belmont on Saturday, April 4.
MATCH INFORMATION – HOME vs MURRAY STATE (6-8, 2-0)
Where: Parkside Fitness - Pekin, Ill.
When: Friday, April 3 - 12:00 p.m.
MATCH INFORMATION – HOME vs BELMONT (2-13, 1-1)
Where: Parkside Fitness - Pekin, Ill.
When: Saturday, April 4 - 11:00 a.m.
Live Scoring:
iOnCourt
PREVIEWING THE RACERS
The Murray State Racers are 6-8 overall on the season and 2-0 in MVC matches. The Racers started conference play at home against Drake and Northern Iowa last weekend, defeating the Bulldogs, 4-3, on March 28 and knocking off the Panthers, 5-2, on March 29. The matches, which were Murray State's first home matches of this season, extended the Racers' MVC regular-season match win streak to 20, dating to 2023.
Friday's meeting will be the 13th all-time matchup between Murray State and Bradley and the fourth since Murray State joined the MVC prior to the 2023 dual season. Murray State has taken all three MVC matchups between the two sides, including last season's match in Murray, winning 6-1 on April 6, 2025.
Sophomore Yu Kikawa, who earned All-MVC First Team honors in No. 4 Singles last season, has won 16 matches for Murray State during the 2025-26 season, which leads the team. Senior Valeria Chaikovskaia, the All-MVC Second Team winner in No. 1 Singles from 2025, is second with 12 wins overall.
PREVIEWING THE BRUINS
The Belmont Bruins are 2-13 on the season and 1-1 in MVC matches. The Bruins played a challenging non-conference schedule, but opened conference action with a 6-1 win over Northern Iowa on March 28 before falling to Drake, 1-6, on March 29.
Saturday's meeting will be the sixth all-time matchup between Belmont and Bradley, with all but one coming since 2023. The Bruins have taken each conference match and an MVC Tournament match between the two sides, including winning last season's matchup on the final day of the season, winning 4-3 at Parkside Fitness.
Belmont has four players with at least eight singles wins, headlined by Ketevan Jeladze and Cielo Tapia-Cruz, who each have nine wins. Tapia-Cruz leads the team in singles wins during the dual season with six, and three of them have come on court two. Savannah Webster has five wins during the dual season on court one. In doubles, the pair of Jessica Popiol and Savannah Webster lead the way with 10 wins, including a 5-5 record on court one.
LAST TIME OUT
Bradley opened conference play last weekend at UIC and Valparaiso, falling to the Flames, 4-3, on March 28, and picking up its first MVC win of the season over the Beacons, 4-3.
Valeriia Ivanovskaia and
Ann Hsieh earned their second Doubles of the Week honor as a pair after going 2-0 in their matches on doubles court one, while
Ruby Tseng and
Anna Belogliadova went 2-0 on singles courts two and four, respectively.
TEAM NEWS & NOTES
- It's been a season full of close matches for Bradley. Of the team's 14 matches, 12 have finished with a final score of 4-3. The other two matches both finished 4-2 – victories over Missouri State on Jan. 30 and Oakland on Feb. 19.
- Ruby Tseng currently leads the team in singles victories on the 2025-26 season, boasting a 17-4 record. Tseng's win total surpasses her total from last season of 15. If the season were to end today, her .809 win percentage would tie for fifth-best in a season all-time and would be the best since 2019-20.
- Tseng's 32 career singles wins put her in the top 35 all-time in singles wins.
- Mariia Pukhina currently leads the team in individual doubles wins with 14, achieving the victories with a combination of four different partners.
- Valeriia Ivanovskaia and Ann Hsieh's Doubles of the Week honor was the fourth weekly honor won by the Braves this season. The others are:
- In the Missouri Valley Conference standings, Murray State and UIC lead the way with 2-0 records. Illinois State, Drake, Bradley and Belmont each have 1-1 records, while Valparaiso and UNI are both 0-2. The top six will qualify for the MVC Tournament in late April.
COMING UP...
The Braves will host Lindenwood for a non-conference midweek matchup on Wednesday, April 8. First serve at the Markin Tennis Courts, weather permitting, will be at 1:00 p.m.
