First road trip for Emporia State tennis this weekend

Men's Tennis | 2/10/2023 8:51:00 AM

Emporia State Women (1-0, 0-0 MIAA)
vs. Harding Bison (0-2, 0-0 GAC)
Saturday, February 11 • 7:00 p.m. • Cooper Tennis Complex • Springfield, Mo.
at Drury Panthers (1-1, 0-0 GLVC)
Sunday, February 12 • 11:00 a.m. • Cooper Tennis Complex • Springfield, Mo.
Emporia State Men (1-0, 0-0 MIAA/GAC)
vs. Harding Bison (0-0, 0-0 MIAA/GAC)
Saturday, February 11 • 7:00 p.m. • Cooper Tennis Complex • Springfield, Mo.
at Drury Panthers (0-1, 0-0 GLVC)
Sunday, February 12 • 11:00 a.m. • Cooper Tennis Complex • Springfield, Mo.
Up Next: vs. Tabor
Women on Friday, February 17 • 11:00 a.m. • Hillsboro, Kan.
Men on Saturday, February 18 • 11:00 a.m. • Emporia, Kan.

ON THE ROAD
The Emporia State men's and women's tennis teams hit the road for the first time this season as they travel to Springfield, Mo. for a pair of duals. The Hornets will play Harding on Saturday and Drury on Sunday at the Cooper Tennis Complex
 
LAST SETS
The Emporia State women opened the 2023 spring season with a 6-1 win over Bethel on Tuesday afternoon at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex. 
The Hornets started by rolling through all three doubles matches to take the first point.  Alexia Desmet and Angelina Gnezdilova won 6-2 at #1, Paige Stranghoner and Anastasia Pesic took a 6-3 win a t#2 and Andrea Santiago and Carloline Henry had a 6-0 shutout at #3 doubles. 
Emporia State only dropped five games total in winning at #1-5 singles.  Karen Santiago and Pesic did not lose a game at #2 and #4 singles respectively.  Desmet at #1, Gnezdilova #3 and Stranghoner at #5 all lost just one game in their individual matches.  Sheriden Wichman fell at #6 6-1, 7-6 to round out the match.
The Emporia State men's tennis team opened the spring season with a 7-0 shutout of Bethel on Wednesday afternoon at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex.
The Hornets started things off with a 6-0 win by Harrison Brown and Dominik Simunovic at #2 doubles followed by a 6-2 win by Pablo Carranza and Jaden Tredway at #3 doubles to get the first point of the dual.
Simunovic and Jordi Bou Sastre picked up wins at #1 and #2 singles respectively to put the Hornets up 3-0.  Bou Sastre won 6-1, 6-1 while Simunovic came through with a 6-3, 6-1 win.  Brown was leading 6-3, 3-0 at #3 singles when his opponent retired and the Hornets clinched the dual win.
The closest singles match of the day came when Sergio Vera won 6-1, 7-6 (3) at #3.  Vera trailed 5-2 in the second set before winning four of the final five games to force the tiebreaker.
Gwendal Mazuay won 6-0, 6-0 at #5 and Tredway closed out the dual with a 6-4, 6-0 win at #6 singles.

THE COACH
Former Hornet CeCe Peyroche is currently guiding the Hornets following the retirement of coach Les Stafford in December. She is 1-0 in both men's and women's action. Peyroche was 23-15 in singles play during her three years as a Hornet before moving into the graduate assistant position last year.  

A LOOK AT THE HORNETS
The 2023 MIAA Women's and MIAA/GAC Men's Tennis Preseason Polls have been announced and the Hornet men are picked to finish fourth in the North Division while the Hornet are picked eighth overall.
The Hornet men are 1-0 on the season after their 7-0 win over Bethel.
The Hornet women are 1-0 this year after defeating Bethel 6-1.

KNOW THE FOE
The Harding women are 0-2 after dropping two duals with NCAA Division I Central Arkansas.
The Drury women are 1-1 after falling 4-3 to NCAA Division I Missouri State 4-3 and defeating Williams Woods 6-1.
This weekend will be the first action for the Harding men who went 10-9 last season.
The Drury men are 0-1 after a 5-2 loss to Williams Woods to open the season.

NEXT SERVE
The Emporia State men and women will take on Tabor next weekend.  The women will play the Bluejays in Hillsboro, Kan. on Friday, February 17 while the men will play host to Tabor on Saturday, February 18 at the Kossover Family Complex.