By: Joseph Hovey
DALLAS — Kennesaw State's
Ema Baraniakova,
Sofia Madrid and
Maria Ivankovic each garnered Conference USA women's tennis postseason honors, the league announced on Tuesday.
Ema Baraniakova received All-CUSA Singles Second Team and Doubles Second Team with No. 1 doubles partner
Sofia Madrid.
Maria Ivankovic earned a place on the All-CUSA Freshman Team as well.
With three 2026 recipients, KSU women's tennis has now tallied 38 Division I-era (2005-pres.) all-conference awards across 18 honorees.
This marks Baraniakova's third conference postseason honor in three seasons with KSU. Her 2026 CUSA Singles Second Team award follows Singles First Team in 2025, along with All-ASUN Second and All-Freshman Teams in 2024.
Baraniakova finished the season with a 9-7 singles record, including 9-6 on line one and 3-1 versus CUSA foes. The junior from Leopoldov, Slovakia, won seven of her last 10 matches and posted eight straight-set wins. With CUSA Women's Tennis Athlete of the Week honors on March 25 and April 1, Baraniakova was the only woman in the league to win the award in back-to-back weeks this season.
Baraniakova and Madrid, the Owls' line-one doubles stalwarts, earned a second straight All-CUSA Doubles award after an 11-6 season mark, including 3-1 against league opponents. The duo also won CUSA Women's Doubles Team of the Week on April 1.
Despite going without an individual CUSA postseason honor, Madrid capped her senior campaign with a 10-3 singles record on a conference-leading 10-match win streak.
Ivankovic gives KSU a fourth consecutive season with an All-Freshman honoree. The true freshman from Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, went 7-6 in singles play, including 1-0 on court two and 6-6 on three. Five of Ivankovic's seven wins came in straight sets. In doubles play, Ivankovic and partner
Irene Serrano Maestre went 8-5 overall and 6-2 on court three with wins in seven of their last 10 matches.
Baraniakova, Madrid and Ivankovic helped the Owls to an 11-7 team record in 2026. The season included the second-longest team winning streak in program history, with eight straight matches won from Feb. 18 to March 20. KSU's 2026 campaign also featured its first-ever win over a power-conference opponent, a 4-3 defeat of Virginia Tech on March 10. The Owls' 4-0 win over No. 58 South Alabama on March 20 also gave the program its highest-ranked opponent defeated to date.
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