By: Joseph Hovey
Kennesaw State (0-0, 0-0 CUSA) at Miami (3-2, 0-0 ACC) | Coral Gables, FL
Neil Schiff Tennis Center | Saturday, Jan. 31 | 6 p.m. EST
Kennesaw State at Stetson (3-1, 0-0 ASUN) | Coral Gables, FL
Neil Schiff Tennis Center | Sunday, Feb. 1 | 11 a.m. EST
KENNESAW, Ga. — Kennesaw State men's tennis opens its 2026 season with road matches against Miami and Stetson Jan. 31-Feb. 1.
RECAPPING 2025
The Owls went 8-10 in 2025 and finished fourth in their inaugural Conference USA campaign. KSU defeated NM State 4-1 in the CUSA quarterfinals in Lynchburg, Virginia, before falling to No. 1-seed Middle Tennessee, 4-0, in the semifinal round.
HOO'S WHO IN 2026: Returners
The Owls roster returns a combined 57 matches' experience across singles and doubles from a season ago.
Anthony Weingarten is back after earning 2025 All-CUSA Second Team recognition in both singles and doubles. Weingarten, a senior from Westcliff-on-Sea, England, went 10-5 in singles last season.
Xavi Ferrer, a sophomore from Alicante, Spain, went 6-3 in singles as a freshman in 2025.
Kyvan Rietkerk and Erik Vladimirov also return for KSU after playing in a combined 40 matches.
HOO'S WHO IN 2026: Newcomers
Three freshmen and a transfer have joined the Owls for the 2026 season.
Ben Hudson comes to KSU after playing on a South Florida team that went 20-5 and faced Florida in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Hudson went 6-4 in singles and 14-9 in doubles action as a sophomore with the Bulls. The junior from Dundee, Scotland, also starred in an NCAA Tourney doubles match against the Gators.
Nathan Walters, a freshman from Cirona, Spain, arrives in Kennesaw after achieving a top 8 Spanish U18 ranking and three ITF junior championships.
Leon Peranovic and Dominic Ducariu both come to KSU from Germany with Peranovic a three-time Niedersachsen Region champion and Ducariu having earned an 815th world doubles ranking.
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday marks the second-ever meeting between KSU and Miami. The Hurricanes won the only previous meeting 7-0 in Coral Gables on February 13, 2015.
The Owls and Hatters, longtime ASUN foes, will meet for the 21st time on Sunday. KSU trails in the series 7-13, though a win would give it victories in five of its last seven meetings with Stetson.
KNOW THE FOE
Miami opened the season with three-straight shutout wins over Troy, North Florida and Buffalo, but is coming off road losses to Princeton (0-4) and No. 10 San Diego (1-4).
The Hurricanes are led by head coach Alex Santos and finished 12th in the ACC in 2025 at 6-16.
Stetson has two shutout wins over Millennia Atlantic, a 4-1 defeat of Georgia State and a 1-6 loss at FAU. The Hatters finished second in the ASUN a season ago at 17-5 and 7-1.
UP NEXT
KSU plays its first three home matches of the season Feb. 6-8 versus Samford, Troy and Georgia State. Each match will begin at 1 p.m. EST at Betty Siegel Courts.
