UMKC Heads West for Pair of Road Matches in Utah Friday and Saturday
1/29/2015 2:24:00 PM | Men's Tennis
THIS WEEK
Kansas City (2-0) men's tennis will hit the road for matches in Utah this weekend against BYU and Weber State on Friday and Saturday, respectively. UMKC is looking to start 3-0 for the first time since 2010, and 4-0 for the first time since 1999.
THE OPPONENTS
BYU comes into the weekend with a 3-2 overall record after a pair of contests in New Orleans last week, including a close loss at No. 62 Tulane. Last time out they defeated Air Force 7-0. This will be the first meeting ever.
Weber State enters the weekend with a 1-3 record, posting a win over Colorado Mesa. The 'Roos will face Weber State in Salt Lake City on Saturday morning. The 'Roos are 1-0 all-time against WSU, winning 4-1 in 2009.
WHO IS COMPETING
UMKC will be sending Airam Castellano, Conner Edwards, Uldis Gaismins, Amaury Navette, Vinh Pham, Mike Psarros and Andrey Smirnov this weekend.
LAST TIME OUT
The 'Roos opened their home schedule with a pair of indoor wins against Baker and William Jewell on Friday and Saturday in convincing fashion. They won both matches by a 7-0 score.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Freshman Airam Castellano went 2-0 in both singles and doubles to start the year last week against Baker and WJC, and was rewarded for his efforts out of the No. 1 position, earning WAC Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
THE WAC
The WAC will have a regular season champion crowned this year, as well as a conference tournament champion. The teams will be seeded in the league tournament based on the conference standings. The WAC Tournament will be played April 24-26 in Kansas City, hosted by the 'Roos.
'ROOS IN THE NCAAS
2013 was UMKC's sixth appearance overall 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 eighth season as the head coach of the UMKC men's and women's tennis program. Overall, the 2014-15 season is Hale's 21st as a collegiate head coach, where he has compiled a 383-296 overall combined men's and women's record. On the women's side, he has a record of 62-92 at UMKC, while boasting an 86-70 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 conference regular season titles, four conference tournament crowns and four NCAA Tournament appearances. He was also selected as the 2010 USPTA National Coach of the Year for his turnaround effort, as well as 2009 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 seven seasons at the helm, Hale has coached 25 all-league honorees on the men's side and 14 all-league selections on the women's side. He's also coached three Conference Players of the Year and three League Newcomers of the Year.
He 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.
