'Roos Look to Stay Hot, Host Cardinals and Tigers this Week
4/8/2014 8:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis
THIS WEEK
Kansas City (5-13) men's tennis enters the final stretch of the regular season this week when it hosts William Jewell on Wednesday, followed by a contest against Cowley County C.C. this Friday for Senior Day, both at the Plaza Tennis Center. Friday will also be Campus Kids Day as there will be ice cream, and a post-match autograph session, as well as giveaways.
THE OPPONENTS
William Jewell comes in to the dual on Wednesday with a 4-7 overall record. The NCAA Division II school out of the Great Lakes Valley Conference is led by No. 3 player Max Cooper with a 6-5 overall record. The 'Roos are 9-0 all-time against William Jewell, last winning 7-0 in 2012.
Cowley County CC comes in with a 5-7 record. They are a junior college program that competes in Region VI. Kansas City is 2-0 against the Tigers, winning 6-1 in both 2010 and 2011.
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 58-89 at UMKC, while boasting an 81-68 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
