'Roos Host Bearcats in Final Regular Season Dual Wednesday
4/15/2014 3:03:00 PM | Men's Tennis
THIS WEEK
Kansas City (7-13) men's tennis faces Northwest Missouri State on Wednesday in the final regular season dual of the season, at the Plaza Tennis Center, at 3:00 p.m. UMKC is looking to build off its four-match win streak and head into the WAC Championships on a positive note.
THE OPPONENT
The Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State are 13-3 overall and ranked No. 16 in NCAA Division II. They have four starters with double-digit wins, led by Alvaro Riveros with a 14-3 mark, playing mostly at No. 3. NWMSU leads the overall series with the 'Roos by a 7-2 margin, including wins in the last two meetings. The last victory for UMKC came in March of 2011 by a 4-3 margin.
WHO IS COMPETING
Kansas City will have Tomas Patino, Mike Psarros, Andrey Smirnov, Daniil Ivanov, Vinh Pham, Conner Edwards, Uldis Gaismins, Jai Grewal and Daniel De Zamacona all available.
THE WAC
WAC play will have no regular season champion crowned, only a conference tournament champion. The teams will be seeded in the league tournament based on ITA rankings. The WAC Tournament will be played April 25-27 in Las Cruces, N.M., hosted by New Mexico State.
'ROOS IN THE NCAAS
Last season was UMKC's sixth appearance overall and the third straight in the NCAA Tournament, falling to USC (1999), UCLA (2000), Baylor (2009), Texas (2011), Oklahoma (2012) and UCLA (2013).
HEAD COACH KENDELL HALE
Kendell Hale is in his seventh season as the head coach of the UMKC men's and women's tennis program. Overall, the 2013-14 season will be Hale's 20th as a collegiate head coach, where he compiled a 364-267 overall combined men's and women's record coming in. On the women's side, he has a current record of 59-89 at UMKC, while boasting an 83-68 mark with the men.
Hale has orchestrated an amazing turnaround with the men's and women's tennis programs since joining the department in 2008. He has guided both the men's and women's squads to numerous school-record win totals and has produced four Summit League regular season titles, four Summit League Tournament crowns and four NCAA Tournament appearances. He was selected as the 2010 USTPA National Coach of the Year for his turnaround effort, as well as 2009 and 2013 USPTA Missouri Valley College Coach of the Year, the 2011 Summit League Men's Coach of the Year, and 2013 Summit League Women's Coach of the Year.
In six seasons at the helm, Hale has coached 23 all-league honorees on the men's side and 12 all-league selections on the women's side. He's coached three Summit League Players of the Year and three Summit League Newcomers of the Year.
Hale has also coached the five winningest players in school history on the women's side, and four of the five top career win leaders on the men's side.
Players Mentioned
