'Roos Play at Saint Louis, Host Bradley this Weekend
4/3/2014 4:25:00 PM | Men's Tennis
THIS WEEK
Kansas City (3-13) men's tennis heads to Saint Louis on Friday for a 2:00 p.m. dual against the Billikens, before coming home for the first time since January on Saturday to face Bradley at 2:00 p.m. at the Plaza Tennis Center.
THE OPPONENTS
Saint Louis comes in with a 7-6 overall record in dual action. They are led by No. 1 player Patrick Kella with 12 wins, while Vuk Poledica and Yehia El Sallaly have 16 and 13 wins at the 3-5 positions. The 'Roos lead the Billikens 13-4 in the overall series, winning the last three meetings overall.
The Bradley Braves are 3-13 overall coming into the weekend. They have picked up most of their wins in the No. 3, 5 and 6 positions, but have gone 0-13 from the No. 1 spot. The 'Roos lead the series 4-3, but have dropped the last two in the series by 4-3 scores the last two years.
WHO IS COMPETING
Kansas City will have Tomas Patino, Mike Psarros, Andrey Smirnov, Daniil Ivanov, Vinh Pham, Conner Edwards, Uldis Gaismins and Daniel De Zamacona all available.
LAST TIME OUT
(Wichita, Kan.) - The Kansas City men's tennis squad shuffled the lineup, but it wasn't enough on March 14, dropping a 5-2 contest to Air Force in Wichita.
The 'Roos (3-13) knew they had to come out with some fire to beat the 12-2 Falcons, and it did that with victories at No. 2 and 3 doubles to hold a 1-0 lead going into singles play.
The Falcons snatched the momentum back though, and won in straight sets at the 2-5 spots in the lineup. The lone singles win came from senior Tomas Patino in three sets at the No. 1 position, as he moved up in the lineup earlier in the week.
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.
Media Guide Online
The 2014 UMKC men's tennis media guide is online at UMKCKangaroos.com.
'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 58-88 at UMKC, while boasting a 79-68 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
