PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Tennis (9-12, 4-3 MVC), will compete in the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the first time in three seasons this weekend, April 24-26. This year's tournament is hosted by UIC at the XS Tennis Village.

THE QUARTERFINAL MATCH
Bradley's quarterfinal match will be the tournament's first match, as the Braves will face the Drake Bulldogs (8-12, 3-4 MVC) at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, April 24 (Live Scoring). This will mark the first time the two teams have met in the conference tournament since 2021.

Drake finished the regular season on a three-match skid with conference losses to Valparaiso and UIC after Bradley defeated the Bulldogs on April 11. Despite a sizeable advantage in the all-time series for Drake, Bradley has won the last two matchups with Drake.

This season's victory, in Des Moines, was a 4-3 victory for Bradley and was its third in a row at the time. Drake earned the doubles point after victories on courts one and three. However, four Bradley victories -- coming from a walkover win by Amber Sharp and clutch wins from Ruby Tseng, Mariia Pukhina and Ann Hsieh -- delivered another close win for the Braves.

THE BRACKET
The four-versus-five matchup at 10:00 a.m. on Friday opens the tournament. Scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Friday is the three-versus-six matchup between Murray State and Belmont. On Saturday, the winner of Bradley/Drake will face the top-seeded hosts UIC, who went 7-0 in conference play, while the winner of Murray State/Belmont will face the second-seeded Illinois State Redbirds. The Championship match will take place on Sunday, April 26, at 10:00 a.m.

ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS
The Valley announced this season's All-Conference Team and specialty awards on Thursday morning. Ruby Tseng earned All-MVC First-Team honors for No. 2 Singles. The sophomore from Taiwan has dominated singles play in 2026, boasting an 18-2 record since the turn of the calendar. Since she was moved up to court two on Feb. 13, Tseng has gone 13-1 on court two, winning each of her last 13 matches on the court. In conference play, Tseng won every singles match she played -- a perfect 7-0. This is the second time Tseng has earned a spot on the All-MVC First Team, earning First Team honors for No. 3 Singles in 2025. She is the first multi-time First Team honoree since Nikki Perlwitz earned honors in 2021 and 2022 for No. 6 Singles.

THE SEASON SO FAR
The team finished with a 9-12 record in the regular season, good for the most wins in a season since 2022. Bradley finished fourth in the MVC with a 4-3 conference record. It marks the highest the team has finished in the standings since 2022 and ties the most conference wins in a season in program history.

Ruby Tseng leads the way with 18 singles wins this dual season. Similar to 2025, Mariia Pukhina has been in good form in the second half of the regular season, boasting a 10-4 record on court three with an 8-2 record in her last 10 matches.

In doubles, Bradley has used three doubles pairs for the majority of the season, and all three have had great success. Ann Hsieh and Valeriia Ivanovskaia have gone 8-4 on court one since being paired, winning four MVC Doubles Team of the Week honors. Anna Belogliadova and Compassion Tsai hold an 8-5 record together, while Mariia Pukhina and Ruby Tseng are 7-3 together.