Roos Face Shockers on the Road, Host Tigers Friday
3/1/2016 5:26:00 PM | Men's Tennis
This Week and Up Next
UMKC men's tennis (5-5) heads to Wichita State Wednesday for a mid-week dual, before hosting Olivet Nazarene in a recently added match at the Plaza Tennis Center on Friday. Next Wednesday they are hosting Northwest Missouri State in a men/women doubleheader dual.
The Opponents
Wichita State is 7-6 entering the week, including wins over South Carolina, Nebraska and New Mexico State. They are paced by Tin Ostojic at the No. 1 position with eight wins, and Haru Inoue with 10 victories. The Roos and Wichita State are meeting for the 16th time, with the Shockers holding a 14-1 advantage in the series. UMKC's lone win was in 1999 by a 5-2 score.
Olivet Nazarene is 1-4 entering the week, and are also playing McPherson College on Friday. ONU is ranked No. 18 in NAIA, and have won points against all three Division I schools they have faced this year. This will be the first meeting in school history between UMKC and ONU.
WAC Player of the Week
Mike Psarros was a perfect 2-0 in both singles and doubles, helping the Roos post a 1-1 record in a trip to California, including a narrow 4-3 loss to No. 72 Santa Clara. This is the second WAC Player of the Week honor of his career, also winning last season.
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 40 wins. In a single season, UMKC has several players looking to crack the top 10 in singles, with Amaury Navette leading the way with 15 wins, while Airam Castellano has 14.
In doubles play, Psarros has 39 wins to rank tied for eighth, while Uldis Gaismins is 10th with 37 victories. For a single season, Castellano and Psarros each have 12 victories, just four away from cracking the top 10.
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 is Hale's 22nd as a collegiate head coach, where he has compiled a 409-332 overall combined men's and women's record. On the women's side, he has a record of 73-110 at UMKC, while boasting a 101-87 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
