Roos Host No. 55 Sooners in Sunday Morning Dual
2/27/2016 11:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
This Week and Up Next
Kansas City (3-6) women's tennis will host Oklahoma Sunday at 9 a.m. in the KC Raquet Club. They will then hit the road for a match on Thursday at Wichita State.
The Opponent
The Sooners come in ranked No. 55 in the nation, and have a 4-4 overall record. They are led by Lily Miyazaki at the No. 1 position with a 6-2 overall mark. Emma Devine is a perfect 7-0, playing out of the No. 2-4 positions, most recently at No. 2. This will be the first ever meeting between Oklahoma and UMKC in women's tennis.
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 42 wins, while Mariam Kurasbediani has 31 wins to sit eighth, and Raquel Argenal is at 29 victories in ninth.
In doubles play, Stavrianakou is sixth with 37 career victories, while Linda Ammar Mouhoub is 10th with 23 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 got off to a 3-0 start at home before falling in the tight 4-3 match to AFA on Sunday.
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 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.
Players Mentioned
