Men's Tennis | 10/1/2026 10:28:00 AM

October 1, 2026-The Emporia State men's and women's tennis teams will head up the Kansas Turnpike this weekend for the Washburn Invitational in Topeka, Kan.

The Hornets will be joined in Topeka by men's teams from Northwest Missouri, Southwest Baptist, Colorado Mesa and the host Ichabods.  In addition to Emporia State and Washburn the women's field is made up Northwest Missouri, Central Oklahoma, Southwest Baptist, Missouri State and UMKC.

The first wave of Friday matches for both men and women will begin with doubles at 9:00 a.m. at Topeka's Kossover Tennis Center located at 2540 SW Gage Blvd. Singles competition is set to begin at 11:45 a.m. on Friday. Saturday will start with women's singles play at 9:00 a.m. while the first serve for the men will be at 10:45 a.m.

ABOUT THE MEN
The Emporia State men will be young this year with four freshmen and three sophomores joining returning upperclassmen Gwendal Mazuay, Alexis Mattenberger, and Luke West.
Last Serve
Emporia State won the championship bracket of every flight of the George Milton Chicken Dinner Invite held September 5-6 at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex.
Luke West won Flight #1 with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Jorge Gabriel Batista of Bethel College. Flight #2 ended up with co-champions as the Hornets Bryan Dickson and Gwendal Mazuay both advanced to the final and elected not to play. Teammates Maxime Raoux and Francisco Landeras met in the Flight #3 final and did play with Raoux coming out on top 6-3, 6-3. The final bracketed flight championship went to the Hornets Dimitar Berdankov with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Maharishi International's Katlego Regeong.
West and Dickson teamed up to win 9-7 over Batista and Billy Haoda of Bethel in Flight #1 of doubles. Doubles Flight #2 was another co-championship for the Hornets as the teams of Landeras and Mazuay along with Evan Goates and Raoux both made the final before electing not to play as teammates.
Overall Emporia State went 29-5 on the weekend with a 21-3 mark in singles play and an 8-2 record in doubles action. 

ABOUT THE WOMEN
The Emporia State women have five returners led by senior Giovanna Ferreira and junior Yuliya Klimova with the other seven players on the roster either freshmen or sophomores.
Last Serve
The Emporia State women came home with two flight championships and an overall winning record at the Augustan Invite on September 12-13 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Erin Cahill won Flight Six with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Josie Sueflohn of Saint Mary in the quarterfinals, a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) win over Neb.-Kearney's Jasmine Ben Aba in the semis and an injury withdrawal victory over Augustana's Kristin Lucas Caceres in the final.
Newcomer Emma Jittawait picked up the championships in Flight Eight.  She defeated Elli Zink of Sioux Falls 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinal, Stella Stempson of Neb.-Kearney 6-2, 6-2 in the semis and finished with a 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)  victory over Minnesota State's Dlizabeth Dabiza in the final.
Cahill and Jittawait then combined to win matches and advance to the finals of Flight Four in doubles.
The eight Hornet women went a combined 12-10 in Sioux Falls with an 11-4 record against NCAA Division II opponents in singles play while the four doubles teams were 5-5 with a 5-4 mark against D-II teams.
 
UP NEXT
Both the men and women will wrap up the fall portion of the schedule October 22-24 at the ITA Fall Regionals in Edmond, Okla.