Photo courtesy of the Horizon League Members of the YSU women’s tennis team, from left to right: Lydia Foster, Diane Piranda, Hanna Telzynska and Lorena Cedeno, embrace after winning the Horizon League championship match over Cleveland State on Sunday at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Cincinnati.

YOUNGSTOWN — Since head coach Mickael Sopel took over the Youngstown State women’s tennis program 2013, he has built the Penguins’ program into a force to be reckoned with.

Each year, new players from around the world make their way into the program, while returning players continue to grow and improve, and this year was no different.

Even with a slightly different singles and doubles lineup this year, the result was still the same for YSU, as the Penguins’ dynastic run at the Horizon League championship continued on Sunday, beating Cleveland State to win their ninth Horizon League title overall and fourth in the last five years.

“It’s so hard to describe it. What I can say is that I don’t think it ever gets old,” Sopel said. “That’s why we do this. Those girls, that’s why they play. That’s why they’re here at Youngstown State. They want to come back because they all say, all year long, they want that feeling again, how exciting and the joy and everything that comes with winning the title. It’s unbelievable.”

With another league title, YSU will make its ninth NCAA tournament appearance on Saturday in Columbus, where it will face No. 3 overall seed Ohio State in the first round at 1 p.m. at the Auer Tennis Complex. It’s the Penguins’ first time facing Ohio State in the tournament since 2016.

As the bracket was unveiled during Monday’s selection show, the Penguins had to wait a little bit to find out their destination. But the feeling of jubilation from seeing their name pop up on the screen didn’t diminish.

“We haven’t played Ohio State for a few years in the tournament, so it’s nice to go somewhere other than Michigan and play a fellow Ohio team,” Sopel said. “We’re really excited to go there and compete and give it our best and see what happens. We have the talent to put them in a complicated situation, but it’s going to take us playing extremely well and be at our best level. If we can do that, you never know what can happen.”

YSU had to fight through league play during the regular season. But once the tournament began, the Penguins found another gear.

They made quick work of Northern Kentucky 4-0 in the first round, before bouncing back from losing the doubles point against Milwaukee to fend off the Panthers 4-1 in the semifinals.

In the title match against Cleveland State, YSU’s No. 2 doubles pairing of Yeseniia Ovcharova and Line Greyling faced a match point in the tiebreak after the Vikings had won the No. 1 doubles match. Had the Penguins lost the point, CSU would have clinched the doubles point and had momentum going into singles.

But instead, Ovcharova and Greyling dug deep, staving off match point, while going on to win the tiebreak and the match. Lorena Cedeno and Sarah Partida then won the No. 3 doubles match to clinch the point for YSU and the Penguins.

“I just reminded my teammate that it’s only one point. No matter what happens, we’re in it together. We have six other points that we can fight for,” Greyling said. “But somehow we just stayed together, being there for each other. It’s not just you on the court, you’re playing with someone else, sharing that energy and just going out there and giving it your all.

“[The match] was tight, but we knew we had each other and we had a whole team behind us. So it made it easier going into the match points, knowing that everyone was backing us.”

In singles, Cedeno and Yoana Dudova cruised to straight-set victories in their matches at the No. 2 and No. 6 spots, respectively, which put the Penguins up 3-0.

Even though Greyling then dropped her match at the No. 5 spot to CSU’s Laura Tapia, Ovcharova had the championship on her racket in the match at No. 3.

Up 6-3, 5-3 (40-15), Ovcharova had championship point for YSU. After a baseline rally, CSU’s Melliz Petkova buried a backhand into the net and the rest of the Penguins stormed the court, mobbing Ovcharova in celebration.

“I don’t know if I have the words to describe it,” Dudova said. “I think you just have to feel it. But we were so nervous because we could see the finish line. But in tennis, it’s never over until it’s over. So it was, I don’t know, it was nervous and excitement and everything. Then once she clinched it, we just all ran up to her and we were just happy. Honestly, we were crying, we were screaming, everything you could imagine.”

While most of the Penguins have been a part of YSU’s back-to-back titles the past two years, Greyling has been on three of YSU’s conference championship teams during her four years in Youngstown.

As a freshman, she was a part of YSU’s team that went undefeated in Horizon League play in 2023, and now she gets to end her college career with a second consecutive league crown.

“It’s been such an amazing journey. My heart is so full, so thankful for this program. It’s amazing,” Greyling said. “I don’t know how to explain that feeling to people who don’t witness it because for me, it was amazing. [My freshman year] set the standard for me, and then from there, all I wanted to do was win. Because once you get that feeling, you get addicted to the feeling of winning.”