Roos Head to California for Pair of Matches
2/26/2016 9:30:00 AM | Men's Tennis
This Week and Up Next
UMKC men's tennis (4-4) heads to California for matches against Santa Clara and UC-Santa Cruz this weekend. UMKC will then head to Wichita State next Wednesday for a mid-week dual.
The Opponents
Santa Clara enters the weekend with a 4-4 overall record, but all four losses have come against nationally ranked opponents. The Broncos are led by a deep lineup, inlcuding Andrew Gu out of the No. 3 spot with a 7-3 record. This will be the first meeting ever between UMKC and Santa Clara.
UC-Santa Cruz is a Division III school, and comes into the weekend with a 3-3 overall record. The Roos are facing the Banana Slugs for the first time in school history.
Hale Hits 100
UMKC head coach Kendell Hale earned his 100th win at UMKC on Saturday against Washburn. For his career, combined men and women, he has 408 wins, and 73 with the UMKC women.
All-Time Charts
The Roos have one current player ranked in the singles all-time top-10 chart in senior Andrey Smirnov at ninth all-time with 39 wins. Three current players are in the single season singles wins list with Mike Psarros and Airam Castellano each winning 19 matches last year (t-1st), while Smirnov tallied 18 wins (t-5th).
In doubles play, Psarros has 37 wins to rank tied for ninth, while Uldis Gaismins is 11th with 36 victories. For a single season, UMKC had both Smirnov and Gaismins break the school record with 20 wins last year, while Psarros and Castellano both won 16 doubles matches to rank tied for eighth.
Roos in the NCAA's
UMKC's has six appearances overall in the NCAA Tournament, falling to USC (1999), UCLA (2000), Baylor (2009), Texas (2011), Oklahoma (2012) and UCLA (2013) in the first round.
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 408-330 overall combined men's and women's record. On the women's side, he has a record of 73-109 at UMKC, while boasting a 100-86 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.
