By: Joseph Hovey
DALLAS — Kennesaw State's
Ema Baraniakova has been named Conference USA's women's tennis September Athlete of the Month, the league announced Tuesday.
Baraniakova's recognition follows her undefeated start to the fall season in both singles and doubles.
At the Mercer Gridiron Classic, Oct. 1-3, Baraniakova reached the singles final with an opening-round 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win over Georgia State's Sara Radojevic, as well as defeats of Emory's Visnja Gusavac (6-3, 6-3) and Western Carolina's Mariya Dobreva (4-6, 6-2, 6-1) in the quarter and semifinal, respectively. While inclement weather canceled the singles final at Mercer, Baraniakova's early fall record nevertheless ballooned to 6-0.
Baraniakova's first outing of the fall, at KSU-hosted Georgia Mid-Major Mayhem, included wins over opponents from Georgia Southern (6-1, 6-1), Georgia State (6-2, 6-4) and a three-set edging of Mercer's number one, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2-0).
With freshman teammate
Adela Zingorova at her side, Baraniakova also led the Owls to three doubles wins in the season-opening tournament Sept. 18-20 in Kennesaw. The Czech-Slovak duo tallied wins over Bear, Eagle and Panther pairs, by scores of 6-2, 6-2 and 6-0, respectively.
With six wins to her 2026-2027 resume, Baraniakova now has 43 career singles wins at KSU, tying Sofia Pinedo (2019-23) and current assistant coach
Taylor Dean (2019-24) for eighth all-time.
Baraniakova, a senior from Leopoldov, Slovakia, now has her first career CUSA fall award after earning the league's athlete of the week honor twice as a junior in spring 2026.
Baraniakova and her teammates return to action Oct. 8-12 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Regional Championships in Coral Gables, Florida.
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