Women's Tennis | 1/27/2026 1:11:00 PM

Crookston, Minn. - The Golden Eagles come into the 2026 season looking to improve on last year's 7-9 record, which is the second best record in program history behind 2024's 10-5 record. Eight of the nine players on this year's roster are returning. They lost Kaydance Hinn and Blaike Zander from last season to graduation. Zander was rotated between the 3-5 singles places depending on the match, and Hinn was in and out of the sixth singles spot throughout the season. The Golden Eagles made the addition of Terez Drasilova for the 2026 season. Drasilova fit into the fourth singles position in pre season matches, winning her first match 6-3, 6-1 and her second match 6-4, 6-1. 

Daniela De Lucas Rivera will be retaining her first singles position on the team, following a very strong 2025 with a record of 8-5 in the first singles spot. Asli Oktay is set to retain her second singles position this year. Nadia Cases Mundet has started the first two matches of the season at third singles. The fourth singles spot went to Drasilova for the two preseason games this season, and fifth singles went to Ariadna Solis Guals. The last spot, sixth singles went to Kavya Singh. In 2025, Oktay had a 3-10 singles record, Cases Mundet went 12-4, Solis Guals was 4-5, and Singh was 5-7.

All three doubles positions are still up for grabs. The Golden Eagles head coach, Josh Lunak chose different partnerships for all three double spots across the first two matches. Against Jamestown in the first exhibition, Asli Oktay and Ariadna Solis Guals won their match, as did Kavya Singh and Nadia Cases Mundet. In the match against UMary, Asli Oktay and Terez Drasilova won their match, Nadia Cases Mundet and Ariadna Solis Guals also won their match. In the four doubles wins for the Golden Eagles, they held an average margin of victory of 5.25. As for the two losses, it was an average of 3.5. Anything can happen in doubles for the Golden Eagles this year. The Golden Eagles top duo in 2025 was Nadia Cases Mundet and Kavya Singh with an 8-5 record. 

This will also be the Dragons' opening match of the season. Last year, the Dragons had a 12-9 record, along with a 5-4 conference record. In the one match between these two schools last season, the Dragons took the 5-2 win. This matchup has not been in favor of the Golden Eagles, as the two schools have played 13 times, with the Dragons winning 12. With the new season comes a new Head Coach for the Dragons, with Damien O'Donnell taking over after being the assistant coach for three years with the Dragons.

Overall, the Golden Eagles are hoping to improve on last season with the gained experience from most of the main contributors. They will also be pursuing their third straight NSIC Tournament appearance and their first Tournament win. The match will start this Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at the Choice Health and Fitness Courts in Grand Forks.