Midweek Match for Emporia State Men's Tennis against Ottawa

Men's Tennis | 2/14/2024 11:09:00 AM

Emporia State Hornet Men (1-1, 0-0 MIAA)
vs. Ottawa Braves (2-1, 0-0 KCAC)
Thursday, February 15 • 2:30 p.m. • Kossover Family Tennis Complex • Emporia, Kan.
Video: The MIAA Network
Up Next: at Rockhurst
Saturday, February 17 • 5:30 p.m. • Northland Racquet Club • North Kansas City, Mo.

LET'S GET IT STARTED
The Emporia State men make their regular season home debut on Thursday afternoon against Ottawa at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex. It is one of just five home matches for the Hornet men this spring.
 
LAST SERVE
Emporia State fell 4-3 at Drury on Sunday. The Hornets won the doubles point with Sergio Vera Martin and Mostafa Elbasnaly winning 7-6 (7-5) at #1 and Harrison Brown and Elvin Selimovic won 7-5 at the #3 position.  Elbasnaly picked up a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win at #3 while Diego Calvo earned a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 decision at #4.

THE COACHES
John Blackburn is in his first season as the Director of Tennis and head men's coach at Emporia State. He spent the past eight seasons as the head coach at NCAA Division III Methodist University in Fayetteville, N.C. He went 117-58 overall with a 54-4 record in conference play, winning three regular season conference championships, two conference tournament championships and made two NCAA Tournament appearances under his leadership. He was also a head coach at Eastern Illinois, Coker College and Palm Beach Atlantic.

A LOOK AT THE HORNETS
The Emporia State men are 1-1 on the season. They opened up with a 4-0 win over Maryville before getting edged 4-3 by Drury with both matches in Springfield, Mo.
Mostafa Elbasnaly has begun the season with a pair of wins at the #3 singles position. Anton Sarunic, Sergio Vera Martin and Diego Calvo have all picked up a win in singles play in the first two duals.
The Hornets have won the doubles point in both of their duals so far this year. Harrison Brown and Elvin Selimovic are 2-0 at #3 doubles. Sarunic and Calvo have split their two matches while Elbasnaly and Vera Martin won at Drury in their only completed match.
 
KNOW THE FOE
Ottawa is 2-1 on the season with 7-0 wins over Concordia (Neb.) and Hastings (Neb.) and a 4-3 loss to Newman. Julian Toloza is 3-0 at #3 singles to lead the Braves. Ottawa has won the doubles point in all three duals with Oscar Giorgio and Jarmo Perez Wienese going 3-0 with two matches at #2 and one #1 match.

UP NEXT
Both the Hornet men and women will travel to North Kansas City, Mo. on Saturday, February 17 to take on Rockhurst at the Northland Racquet Club.  Both duals are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m.