Men's Tennis Heads To Colorado For Three Matches
3/19/2008 2:45:00 PM | Men's Tennis
THIS WEEK
The UMKC men's tennis team will head to the state of Colorado for three matches on March 20-23. The Kangaroos will open play in a neutral site match against Rhode Island at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The squad will then play at Air Force at 10 a.m. on Saturday and at Northern Colorado on Sunday at 11 a.m.
LAST MATCH
The Kangaroos dropped a 6-1 road contest at Creighton last weekend in Omaha. UMKC's lone victory came at the four line where Dennis Schwarz picked up a straight set decision at the four line.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
Rhode Island enters Thursday's match riding a seven-match winning streak, which pushes the team's overall record to 12-3 on the year. On Tuesday, the Rams pulled out a tight 4-3 victory at Air Force. It was the team's third straight 4-3 win.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Air Force has won four of six matches to push its overall record to 9-6 on the year. The Falcons topped Dayton (6-1) and Northern Arizona (7-0) on March 16 and March 18 before dropping a 4-3 contest to Rhode Island on Tuesday.
SCOUTING THE BEARS
Northern Colorado enters the weekend with a 1-7 overall record after dropping matches to Air Force (1-6) and Sacramento State (0-7) on March 15-16. The Bears' lone win on the year came on Feb. 15, as they topped South Dakota State, 5-2. Prior to facing the Kangaroos, UNC will host Portland State on Mar. 22.
SCHWARZ TALLIES UMKC'S FIRST SINGLES VICTORY
Sophomore Dennis Schwarz picked up UMKC's first singles victory of the season last Saturday at Creighton. The Germany native moved down to the four line in the match, and he came away with the 6-1, 6-3 victory over Brian Ward.
Schwarz also has the Kangaroos lone doubles win on the year, as he and Erwin Quintanilla topped Saint Louis' P.J. Hendrie and Sean McManus on March 8.
UMKC SET FOR HOME, SUMMIT LEAGUE MATCHES
After the trip to Colorado, the Kangaroos will return to Kansas City for four Summit League matches at the Plaza Tennis Center. UMKC will host Oral Roberts, South Dakota State, IUPUI and Western Illinois in conference play.
UMKC PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH IN SUMMIT LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL
The Kangaroos were picked to finish in fourth place in The Summit League Preseason Poll. The squad tallied 22 points in a vote of the league's head coaches. Oral Roberts received four first place votes en route to 34 points, as it was picked to repeat as the team champion.
NEW COACHES IN PLACE FOR KANGAROOS
Kendell Hale is in his first season as the head coach of the UMKC tennis program. Hale previously served the past 11 years as the head coach at Rockhurst University, where he led the Hawks to nine NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.
Dante Cipulli joined Hale's staff in December after serving as a graduate assistant at Southwest Baptist University from 2005-07. As a player, Cipulli was a two-time ITA all-American at SBU, and he was named the ITA Player of the Year as a senior.
Players Mentioned
