UMKC To Square Off Against ORU At The Summit League Championship On Friday
4/23/2008 4:30:00 PM | Men's Tennis
THIS WEEK
The UMKC men's tennis team will travel to the campus of IPFW in Fort Wayne, Ind., this weekend for the 2008 Summit League Championship. The Kangaroos, who enter the Championship as the No. 3 seed, will square off against No. 2 seed Oral Roberts on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. With a victory, UMKC would face either No. 1 seed Western Illinois or No. 4 seed IUPUI for a chance to earn a berth into the NCAA Championships.
LAST MATCH
The Kangaroos closed out the regular season with a 4-0 victory over IPFW on April 12 in Macomb. The squad picked up victories at the top four singles spots in the line-up to clinch a spot in The Summit League Championship.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Kangaroos will be making their fourth straight and their 13th overall league championship appearance this weekend in Fort Wayne. The Kangaroos, however, will be looking for their first win at the event since the 2000-01 season when they topped Valparaiso (4-1) to advance to the final.
Since joining the league, UMKC has claimed a pair of tournament titles and NCAA Championship berths, as the squad won the team title in back-to-back years in 1999 and 2000.
UMKC AGAINST THE FIELD
The Kangaroos enter the tournament with a 1-2 record against the three other teams that have qualified for the Championship.
- UMKC won the doubles point in the first meeting against the Golden Eagles, but ORU came back to win four singles matches to claim the 4-1 decision on March 28 in both team's league openers.
- The Kangaroos defeated IUPUI, 4-1, on March 29. The squad claimed the doubles point and got singles wins from Nick Patonai, Dennis Schwarz and Erwin Quintanilla to win the match.
- UMKC narrowly dropped a 4-3 decision to regular season champion Western Illinois on March 30 in Kansas City. The squad fell behind 3-0 in the match before Patrick Smith, Serge Ristivojevic and Schwarz evened the match at three with singles victories. In the deciding match, Quintanilla dropped a hard fought three-set decision to Francisco Ortiz at the No. 4 position, as WIU escaped with the win.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES
Oral Roberts will look to repeat as the tournament champion behind a solid group of players. Oleksandr Kotsiuk, Dennis Troyke and reigning league Newcomer of the Year Alex Dargel have led the Golden Eagles to a 5-8 overall record and a 5-1 mark in league play this season. Kotsiuk posted a team-best 10 singles wins, which included a perfect 6-0 mark in league competition. Troyke finished with a 6-0 record against league foes, while Dargel posted a 4-1 mark.
SUPER SOPHOMORES
In Summit League play, the UMKC sophomore class has been leading the Kangaroos to victories this season. The threesome of Erwin Quintanilla, Patrick Smith and Dennis Schwarz has combined for a 13-2 overall record in conference matches.
WE'RE GOING STREAKING
Sophomore Dennis Schwarz is in the midst of a 10-match winning streak dating back to March 15. The Germany native has won eight of those matches in straight sets while splitting time between the No. 3 and No. 4 positions. On the year, Schwarz has a 10-3 overall record and a perfect 5-0 mark in league play. With another victory, the sophomore would move into the top-10 in UMKC history in single season wins.
SMITH SOLID AT THE TWO
After starting the year 0-4, sophomore Patrick Smith has claimed six of his last eight matches to even his overall record at 6-6. In Summit League play, the Germany native was a perfect 4-0, which included a straight set (7-6 (3), 6-3) victory over WIU's Martin Bostrom. Smith's victory handed Bostrom his first and only loss of the regular season, as he finished with an 18-1 overall record.
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
