UMKC Returns Home For Duals on Friday and Sunday
2/18/2016 10:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
This Week and Up Next
Kansas City (2-5) women's tennis will host Washburn and Air Force on Friday and Sunday, respectively, at KC Raquet Club. The Roos will remain at home next Sunday, Feb. 28 for a match with Oklahoma.
The Opponents
The Lady Blues of Washburn enter the week at 2-1 overall in dual play. Jennifer Krause and Gwen Shepler lead the team with five singles wins while Jodie Blackim, Whitney Holloman and Ashlynn Sutton each have four wins. UMKC is 0-1 all-time against WU, falling 8-1 on April 6, 1993.
Air Force is 3-3 entering the weekend, and face Kansas State on Saturday before playing UMKC and Rockhurst on Sunday. The Falcons are led by Chloe Forlini, who has a 17-6 overall record, and is 5-1 in dual action, mostly out of the No. 2 position. UMKC is 0-2 against Air Force, dropping 7-0 duals in 2010 and 2015.
Moving On Up
The Roos have three current players ranked in the singles all-time top-10 charts. Senior Dimitra Stavrianakou is sixth all-time with 40 wins, while Mariam Kurasbediani has 30 wins to sit eighth, and Raquel Argenal is at 28 victories in ninth.
In doubles play, Stavrianakou is sixth with 35 career victories, while Linda Ammar Mouhoub is 10th with 21 career wins.
Home Sweet Home
The UMKC women's tennis team posted an 8-2 record at home last season, the best home mark in school history. It started the season 6-0 at home as well, the best home start ever. This year, the Roos are off to a 2-0 start at home.
The WAC
The WAC will have a regular season champion crowned again this year, as well as a conference tournament champion. The teams will be seeded in the league tournament based on the conference standings.
Head Coach Kendell Hale
Kendell Hale is in his ninth season as the head coach of the UMKC men's and women's tennis program. Overall, the 2015-16 season will be Hale's 22nd as a collegiate head coach, where he has compiled a 406-328 overall combined men's and women's record. On the women's side, he has a record of 72-108 at UMKC, while boasting a 99-85 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 at the 2010 USTPA 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 eight seasons at the helm, Hale has coached 29 all-league honorees on the men's side and 16 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 nine 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
