EMPORIA STATE TENNIS OPENS SPRING SEASON ON SATURDAY

Women's Tennis | 2/27/2020 1:39:00 PM

Emporia State Men (0-1, 0-0 MIAA)
vs. William Jewell (6-5, 0-0 GLVC)
Saturday, February 29 at 12:00 p.m.
EHS Courts Emporia, Kan.
Emporia State Women (1-0, 0-0 MIAA)
vs. William Jewell (0-9, 0-0 GLVC)
Saturday, February 29 at 12:00 p.m.
EHS Courts Emporia, Kan.
 
A SPRING IN YOUR STEP
The Emporia State tennis teams will open their spring season with a pair of duals against William Jewell on Saturday afternoon at the EHS Courts.
 
THE COACH
Les Stafford is in his first season as the head coach at Emporia State. He has spent the last 15 years as the head tennis pro at Crestview Country Club in Wichita, Kan.  He is a United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) Certified Pro and has taken junior players to regional and national level competition. He spent 14 years as the head coach of the women's program at Wichita State from 1990-2004 and was a four-time conference coach of the year for the Shockers.  He went 178-143 in dual match play with four conference tournament championships and one regular season title. Stafford was a four-time NAIA National Tournament qualifier during his career with the Hornets. He went 20-5 in singles while going 20-6 in doubles in 1979.
 
A LOOK AT THE HORNET MEN
The Hornet men went 7-8 last year with a 1-3 mark in conference play.  They have four returners, including two who earned All-MIAA honors last season
 Andy Graf, a sophomore from Mascoutah, Ill., was 6-3 on the year with a 2-1 mark in MIAA play to earn Second-Team All-MIAA at the #6 singles spot.
Taylor Nelson was 8-5 with a 2-2 record in MIAA play to garner Honorable Mention All-MIAA at #5 singles. The sophomore from Christchurch, New Zealand also picked up the league's Sportsmanship Award last year.
This is the first year the MIAA and Great American Conferences have joined up for consolidated schedule.  The four members of the MIAA will make up the North Division while the five members of the GAC will make up the South Division of the partnership.
 
A LOOK AT THE HORNET WOMEN
The Hornet women went 7-10 last year with a 4-5 mark in conference play.  They are set to return all six players from last year's MIAA Tournament team, four of whom earned All-MIAA honors. 
Silvana Caceres earned second-team honors at #6 singles and was joined on the honorable mention team by Viktoria Mackova, Karen Santiago Sanchez and Shannen Meyer.
Caceres was 7-10 overall and 4-5 in MIAA play last season.  The junior from Asuncion, Paraguay came on strong at the end, winning her final three MIAA regular season singles matches. She teamed with Meyer, a junior from Gold Coast, Australia, to earn honorable mention All-MIAA in doubles.  The pair went 4-3 on the year all at the #3 spot.
Mackova, a sophomore from Nitra, Slovakia, and Santiago Sanchez, a sophomore from Oaxaca, Mexico, also earned honorable mention in doubles play.  They were 5-4 on the season and went 5-3 at the #2 doubles position.
 
A LOOK AT WILLIAM JEWELL
The Cardinal men are 6-5 with a 3-4 record this spring.  The William Jewell women are 0-9 with an 0-5 record in spring action.
 
UP NEXT
The Hornet men are set to travel to Wichita on March 5 to take on Friends. The next scheduled action for both teams will be March 7 when they play host to Ottawa University. First serve is set for 11:00 a.m. at the EHS Courts.