Western Kentucky’s women’s tennis team opened the 2025 season with a 6-1 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Thursday at the Warren County Tennis Facility at Michael O. Buchanon Park.

“Being able to keep our intensity level up the whole time in doubles and singles was the key,” WKU coach Greg Davis said in a news release. “We didn’t have a drop off the whole day, which was big. EKU is an extremely good team and has pretty much everybody back from last year. If you would have told me before the match we would go through them 6-1, I’d say, ‘Man, we played well.’ For the first match of the season, I thought we played well.”

With Thursday’s result, the Lady Toppers start the season with a win for the third time in the last four seasons.

The Lady Toppers improve to 1-0 at home this season. WKU claimed 11 wins at home last season, which was second-most in program history.

With her win at the No. 1 singles position, Rachel Hermanova extends her WKU record for career singles wins to 50.

WKU’s Sofia Blanco improves to 41-14 in her career in singles play with Thursday’s win at No. 2 singles. She is three singles wins from being tied for second all-time in program history. Blanco is now 39-24 in doubles play in her career with her win Thursday. The 39 doubles wins are second-most all-time in program history.

“Just come in and be aggressive,” Blanco said. “We fought for every ball and we supported each other. I think that was the key for us to win this match.”

The Lady Toppers are scheduled to play their first road match of the season on Sunday at Vanderbilt. The match is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.

Results

Singles (Order of finish: 6, 2, 5, 1, 4, 3)

1. Rachel Hermanova (WKU) def. Masha Fedenko (EKU) 7-6 (9-7), 6-2

2. Sofia Blanco (WKU) def. Sasha Parkhomenko (EKU) 6-4, 6-3

3. Marilou Cote (EKU) def. Mia Miranda (WKU) 5-7, 6-3, 10-5

4. Sunskrithi Damera (WKU) def. Izem Elif Olcer (EKU) 6-3, 6-2

5. Mariana Zegada (WKU) def. Zhansaya Bakytzhan (EKU) 6-3, 6-4

6. Emily Schut (WKU) def. Anastas Cherniakova (EKU) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles (Order of finish: 1, 2)

1. Sofia Blanco/Rachel Hermanova (WKU) def. Masha Fedenko/Anastas Cherniakova (EKU) 6-2

2. Mia Miranda/Emily Schut (WKU) def. Marilou Cote/Zhansaya Bakytzhan (EKU) 6-2

3. Carolina Chiatti/Mariana Zegada (WKU) vs. Sasha Parkhomenko/Izem Elif Olcer (EKU) 4-3, unfinished