The four-match stretch away from home continues for the Milwaukee women's tennis team, set for a pair of contests in Chicago this weekend. The Panthers are set to travel to take on DePaul Friday and then remaining in the city to battle Chicago State Saturday.
 
Friday's match against the Blue Demons will take place at XS Tennis Village and will get underway at 11:30 a.m. and live have live video and statistics available through the DePaul Athletic Communications Office. All links are posted to the MKE website. XS Tennis Village is a 13-acre, $16.9 million facility on Chicago's South Side opened in 2018 and features 12 indoor courts, 13 outdoor hard courts and four outdoor clay courts as well as a track, fitness center and gym (located at 5336 South State Street, Chicago, Ill. 60609).
 
Saturday against Chicago State is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start and will take place at H-F Racquet & Fitness Club (2920 183rd St, Homewood, Ill. 60430).

The Panthers head into the weekend at 6-13 overall and are 0-3 in conference following a tough weekend last week where they battled both the No. 1 and No. 2 teams from the Horizon League Preseason Poll.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
DePAUL: Led by sixth-year head coach Marisa Arce, DePaul reached its most wins since the 2016-17 campaign last season in going 17-8 overall, including identical 7-1 records both at home and in Big East play. The team finished strong, winning 10 of 12 contests to close the regular season before advancing to the Big East Championship match for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons. Hannah Smith (Big East First Team) and Eleanor Nobbs (Second Team) were tabbed for all-conference honors and Arce had the team ranked eighth in the Midwest by the ITA by season's end.
 
The squad is 9-10 so far this spring, with recent struggles seeing them drop five consecutive matches to level their league ledger at 4-4. The Blue Demons have dropped matches to Villanova (L, 4-3 April 5), UConn (L, 5-2 April 4), Xavier (L, 6-1 March 29), South Florida (L, 4-3 March 22), and St. John's (L, 4-3 March 21), since their most recent victory (W, 7-0 over Butler March 8). Sasha Stula (17-9/7-4 at No. 2) and Eva Goncharov (16-8/8-3 at No. 4) lead the way in singles victories with Hannah Smith (22-6) and Goncharov (20-6) tops in doubles wins.
 
CHICAGO STATE: The Cougars went 16-13 overall last school year and were 5-1 in conference play. CSU also peaked at the end of the season, going 3-0 in the Horizon League Tournament with victories over the No. 6, No. 2, and No. 1 seeds on its way to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament. First-year head coach Keiran President joined the department in January of 2025
 
The team enters play Saturday at 0-11 overall and 0-3 in league play, falling to both CSU and YSU last weekend. The department website does not list any statistics from the current season.
 
NIFTY NIKO
Nikola Nikolajeva was brilliant in helping the Panthers to a 2-0 team record with her recent play. She started things with a huge comeback victory to help Milwaukee to a thrilling and dramatic 4-3 victory over Western Illinois March 1. The match was deadlocked at three points apiece with Nikolajeva left at No. 2 singles to determine the winner. Down 5-1 in the deciding third set, she fought off six match points and then won the tiebreaker 11-9 to send the Panthers to the big victory over the Leathernecks.
 
Then, on Sunday, she moved up a spot to No. 1 singles due to injury and dispatched Whitewater's #1, 6-2, 6-0 as part of a 7-0 MKE victory. She was rewarded with Horizon League Singles Player of the Week honors March 5 for her efforts.
 
MAKING HISTORY
Milwaukee and Marquette have been meeting regularly for much of the past two decades, with the Golden Eagles unbeaten in the series – until Feb. 2 that is. The Panthers won the doubles point against the Golden Eagles and then had to wait until the very end to close out the match, with Emilia Durska coming through with the three-set come-from-behind win to give MKE its first victory in program history over its city rival.
 
That gives Milwaukee a perfect 2-0 record against the Big East this season. In addition to the win over Marquette, the Panthers also defeated Providence, 6-1, back on Jan. 26, marking the first MKE victory over a team from the Big East since February of 2007.
 
OFF AND RUNNING
Nadiia Konieva and Nikola Nikolajeva were selected as the Under Armour Horizon League Tennis Doubles Team of the Week Jan. 29. The honor is the second of Konieva's time with the Panthers and a career-first for Nikolajeva.
 
Konieva and Nikolajeva played a key role in the Panthers to a 2-0 week to open the season, getting things underway with a strong start in doubles in both matches. They defeated Bradley, 6-3, Friday, and followed that up with a 6-0 blanking of Providence Sunday - winning both at No. 1 doubles.
 
YEAR NO. 2 LOADING
Expectations for the new season are high for the Panthers and second-year head coach Mark Goldin. The Panthers went 9-12 overall last season, finishing the year as the No. 4 seed (3-3 record) for the Horizon League Tournament before suffering a heartbreaking defeat in the opening round. The team was selected third in the 2025 Horizon League preseason poll.
 
Goldin is a fixture in the Milwaukee tennis community and was named the head coach of the Panthers in August, 2023, following a very successful run as the head coach at Cardinal Stritch University and as the assistant general manager at Elite Sports Club in Mequon.

No stranger to the Panthers, Goldin served as an assistant with the program from 2009 through 2012, helping the team improve from near the bottom of the league standings to a Top-3 program in his time. In fact, MKE went from five team wins, 39 individual wins and a 2-6 conference record in his first year to 13 team wins, 126 individual wins and a 6-2 Horizon League record for third place, the best in school history at the time.
 
ROSTER MAKEUP
The current roster comes from an extensive background of seven different countries and will consist of five returners and three freshmen. Leading the way for the returners is Nadiia Konieva, who finished last season with a singles record of 17-9 and a doubles ledger of 17-8. Her 17 wins led the team in singles play and her 17 doubles victories finished second on the squad and just one off the lead, playing primarily at No. 2. That followed All-Horizon League First Team honors as well as the Horizon League Freshmen of the Year accolades following an outstanding first season with the Panthers.
 
FALL FESTIVITES
This fall, Milwaukee competed in three different tournaments, visiting Minnesota, Illinois, and Ohio. Emilia Durska (5-2) and freshman Nikola Nikolajeva (5-3) led the way in singles with five victories apiece. In doubles play, Nadiia Konieva and Nikolajeva teamed up at No. 1 the entire schedule and paced the Panthers with a 7-3 record.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
The Panthers have been stellar at home of late, going 31-16 over the past four-plus years, including a 10-3 mark in 2021.
 
UP NEXT
The Panthers return home to conclude the regular-season schedule, hosting IU Indy April 18 and Northern Kentucky March 19.