Women's tennis
Women’s tennis ended its 2026 spring season Thursday with a 4-0 loss to No. 2-seeded East Tennessee State University in the Southern Conference Championship quarterfinals at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The loss closed an 8-14 season for Mercer, which included a 1-6 mark in SoCon play. The Bears slightly improved on last year's seven season victories.
Marina de Diego Quinones ‘26 led the team’s individual results and earned second-team All-SoCon honors in singles. Playing primarily at the No. 1 position, she posted a 17-11 overall record and served as the team’s top option throughout the season. Her consistency at the top of the lineup helped stabilize a young roster that relied on four sophomores and one freshman who provided depth throughout the season.
Sofiya Tsitavets ‘28, part of that young group, also earned second-team All-SoCon recognition after a productive season. She recorded nine dual-match singles wins and improved from her freshman year with a 5-2 record in conference play. The Belarusian player played primarily at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions and was one of the team’s most consistent contributors in doubles.
In doubles, Quinones and Ines Hömberg ‘28 formed Mercer’s top pairing and earned second-team All-SoCon honors. The duo finished with 12 wins, tied for the third-highest total in the conference. Their performance continued a recent trend of competitive doubles play for Mercer, matching the program’s top win total from the previous season.
Despite those individual results, Mercer had difficulty securing points in the lower half of its singles lineup. In contrast to 2025, when the Bears picked up conference wins with strong play in the middle positions against teams such as Samford University and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, this season’s results were less consistent, though several were decided by narrow margins.
Mercer dropped a 5-2 decision to UNC Greensboro after holding an early lead on April 12 to close out the regular season. Similar crucial conference outcomes like the team's narrow 4-3 loss to Samford on March 20 limited the team’s ability to convert competitive performances into wins and they dropped in conference rankings.
The quarterfinal loss to East Tennessee State University reflected those challenges. Mercer was unable to secure early momentum and did not earn a point off of singles and doubles play despite a No. 1 doubles win, and ETSU advanced to the semifinals.
With Quinones graduating, Mercer will lose its top singles player and a key doubles contributor. The Bears will be hopeful to return five of the team’s six primary starters.
Coach Eric Hayes is expected to build around a returning core that includes Tsitavets and Hömberg, and will likely add more international transfer students as the Bears have made a habit of doing in recent years. The last two rosters for the squad have included no players born in the United States.
With additional experience and development in the lower lineup positions despite turnover in the upper levels, the Bears will look to improve their results in conference play during the 2027 season.
Men's tennis
Men’s tennis ended its season last Friday, April 17 with a 4-0 loss to ETSU in the SoCon Championship semifinals at the Champions Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.
The Bears bested Furman University in the quarterfinals, 4-1, but were able to win just five games against the Buccaneers, who were unbeaten in 21 straight matchups going into the series.
Mercer finished the season with an 10-13 record, including 4-3 in conference play, a slight regression from last years' 12-8 regular season that included a 6-1 record in SoCon play.
The Bears entered the postseason after a regular season that featured multiple matches against high-level opponents, including the University of Tennessee and No. 22 Florida State University.
Mercer’s most notable win of the season came in February with a victory over Georgia State University, marking the program’s first win in the series between the two after the Bears had lost eight straight contests since 2008.
Individually, Hod'Ablo Isak Padio '26 was the most succesful singles player as he finished with a 21-12 record in both singles and doubles play. Padio won his last six straight matches to finish out his college career.
Padio and Nemanja Stefanovic '26 together played No. 1 doubles, pacing the team with a 19-7 record. Together, the two were essential in the Bears' late conference run, where the team won four out of their last five conference matchups to propel them into a higher seed for the tournament. The pair together at No. 1 and No. 2 singles together swept all but one of those crucial SoCon games.
Alex Aldaz ’28 and Shingo Masuda '28 played a consistent role in the singles lineup, competing across the order. Aldaz was most succesful in the No. 5 slot, where he was best on the team with a 4-3 record, while Masuda finished the season with the second-most wins on the team, competing mainly in the No. 3 slot.
While the Bears are likely to lose Padio and Stefanovic to graduation, the team is hopeful to return Masuda, Aldaz and Macon-native Cameron Douthit '28 in order to build around a young core.
Kaylee Grace Buchanan '29 is double majoring in Criminal Justice and Psychology with an minor in Religion. When not writing, she enjoys reading, baking and playing tennis. You can also catch her on the pickleball courts jamming out to some music as well.
