Spring Break Trip to Florida for Nationally Ranked Emporia State Tennis

Men's Tennis | 3/14/2025 9:56:00 AM

#20 Emporia State Hornet Men (7-1) 
vs. Hobart College Statesmen (1-2)
Sunday, March 16 • 11:00 a.m. (ET) • USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla.
vs. #12 UT-Tyler Patriots (8-1)
Tuesday, March 18 • 11:00 a.m. (ET) • USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla.
vs. #27 Florida Southern Mocs (8-4)
Wednesday, March 19 • 11:00 a.m. (ET) • USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla.
#38 Emporia State Hornet Women (5-2)
vs. Lewis Flyers (2-3)
Sunday, March 16 • 2:30 p.m. (ET) • USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla.
vs. #31 UT-Tyler Patriots (5-4)
Tuesday, March 18 • 11:00 a.m. (ET) • USTA National Campus • Orlando, Fla.
vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas (5-4)
Wednesday, March 19 • 10:00 a.m. (ET) • Racquet Club of Cocoa Beach • Cocoa Beach, Fla.
Live Stream (USTA Campus only) | Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: Men and women vs. Newman
March 25 (W)/March 29 (M) • Kossover Family Tennis Center • Emporia, Kan.

SUNSHINE STATE SPRING BREAK
The Emporia State tennis teams travel to Florida during spring break for three duals each highlighted by top 50 match ups for both the men and women.
 
QUICK LOOK AT THE HORNETS
The Emporia State men are 7-1 on the season and ranked #20 in the latest ITA Division II National Rankings.
The Hornets are led by Anton Sarunic who is 12-3 overall this year with a 5-1 mark this spring in dual competition at the #1 slot. He is ranked #18 nationally in the latest individual singles rankings. Alexis Mattenberger is 14-3 overall with a 9-0 mark in duals, with four wins coming at the #6 position, two at the #2 spot, and one each at #5 and #3 slots.  Mostafa Elbasnaly is 12-6 overall with a 7-3 record in spring duals with three wins at #2 and two wins each at #1 and #3 singles.  Duvan Santiago Torres is 9-5 overall and has gone 4-1 this spring with two wins at #5 singles. Diego Calvo is 12-5 overall going 2-0 at #3 and having a 3-2 mark at the #4 singles position this spring. Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay are 8-2 on the spring in doubles with four wins at #3 and two at both the #1 and #2 positions while Elbasnaly and Hachem Fahem are 3-3 in doubles this spring with a 3-1 mark at the #2 spot. 
The Emporia State women are 5-2 on the season and ranked #38 in the nation. 
Giovanna Ferreira has a 3-5 mark at #1 singles this spring. Perla Conde is 4-2 in the spring and was named MIAA Female Athlete of the Week this week. Paige Stranghoner has a spring record of 5-2, 4-2 at the #6 position. Lilie Bizouerne is 6-2 this spring with a 4-1 mark at #4 singles. She was the MIAA Athlete of the Week earlier this spring.   Anastasia Pesic is 5-2 this spring, 3-1 at #5 singles. Yuliya Klimova is 4-4 at #2 singles and 0-1 at the #1 spot this spring. The women have used eight different doubles combinations this spring. The teams of Klimova and Pesic and Perla and Sheriden Wichman are both 5-1 this spring.

COACHES
John Blackburn is 19-9 in his first season as the head men's coach and Director of Tennis at Emporia State. He spent the previous 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. He was also a head coach at Eastern Illinois, Coker College and Palm Beach Atlantic. 
Former Hornet CyCy Peyroche is 10-14 in her second full season as the permanent coach of the Emporia State women's program. She took over as the interim coach for both teams in December of 2022. She went 6-9 with the men's team and 5-13 in women's action last year. Peyroche was 23-15 in singles play during her three years as a Hornet before moving into the graduate assistant position.  

KNOW THE FOES
For the men Hobart College heads to Florida 1-2 on the season and ranked #37 in NCAA Division III.
UT-Tyler heads into the weekend 8-1 and ranked #12 in Division II. They are 4-0 against MIAA/GAC teams and will play two more MIAA/GAC South Division schools in Ouachita Baptist and Southern Arkansas before heading to Florida. Carel Wessel is ranked #6 and Artiom Dorofeev is #37 in D2 singles play. 
Florida Southern is 8-4 and ranked #27 in Division II heading into the weekend. Samuel Frizelle is ranked #55 in Division II.
For the women Lewis is 2-3 on the season.
UT-Tyler is 5-4 and ranked #1 in Division II entering this weekend. They will play three GAC schools before heading to Florida.
Texas A&M-Kingsville heads to Florida with a 5-4 record. They are 1-2 against the MIAA this spring. Luna Jokanovic is ranked #66 in D2 singles play for the Javelinas.
LAST SERVES
The nationally ranked Emporia State men's and women's tennis teams both picked up wins over juco nationally ranked Cowley CC in exhibition action on Tuesday at the Kossover Family Tennis Center.  The #28 Hornet men defeated the #2 Tigers 4-3 while the 50th ranked Emporia State women won 4-3 over fourth ranked Cowley.
#28 ESU Men 4, #2 Cowley County CC 3
Emporia State got a 6-3 win at #1 from Alexis Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay while Hachem Fahem and Roko Kacer won 6-1 at #2 doubles to give the Hornets a 1-0 lead heading into singles action.
Cowley tied things with a win at #3 singles before Mostafa Elbasnaly won 6-2, 7-5 at #1 and Mattenberger picked up a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 win at #2 to give Emporia State a 3-1 lead. The Tigers picked up three set wins at #4 and #5 to tie the dual at 3-3.  Fahem then gave the Hornets the win with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win at #6 singles. 
#50 Emporia State Women 4, #4 Cowley County CC 3
After Cowley won at #2 doubles Emporia State got a 6-1 win by Lilie Bizouerne and Paige Stranghoner at #1 along with a 7-6 (7-3) win at #3 by Perla Conde and Sheriden Wichman to take the doubles point.
Conde won by retirement at #3 singles before the Tigers got wins at #1 and #2 to even the dual at 2-2.  Bizouerne won 7-5, 6-0 at #4 to give the Hornets and 3-2 lead and Wichman picked up a 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-2) win at #5 to clinch the dual. 

HOW TOUGH IS IT?
The MIAA has four of the top 40 teams in NCAA Division II with Washburn ranked #5, Neb.-Kearney #7, Emporia State #8 and Central Oklahoma #39. Four of the six teams in the Central Regional last year were from the MIAA and seven of the current ten members of the association have made multiple NCAA Tournament appearances.
Six of the top 50 men's teams in the nation are from the MIAA/GAC with three North Division and three South Division teams. Washburn is ranked #5, Emporia State is #20 and Neb.-Kearney is #33 out of the North while the South has Harding at #9, Southern Arkansas is #44 and Ouachita Baptist is ranked #50. Eight of the current 11 members of the MIAA/GAC alliance have made multiple NCAA Tournament appearances.

EMPORIA STATE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Emporia State women have a 5-5 record in five appearances in the NCAA Tournament, highlighted by a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2007. They made their first appearance in 2005 with a 5-1 win over Colorado Mesa before falling 5-1 to Northwest Missouri in the second round.  The Hornets beat Washburn 5-3 in the first round of 2006 and dropped a 5-4 decision to Northwest Missouri in the second round.  In 2007 they picked up a 5-1 win over Colorado Mesa and a 5-2 win over Neb.-Omaha before falling 5-0 to eventual national champion BYU-Hawaii in the round of 16. ESU completed a five year run of appearances with a 5-3 win over Washburn and a 5-2 loss to Northwest Missouri in 2008.  The most recent NCAA tournament was a 5-0 loss to Augustana in 2014. 
The Hornet men have made two appearances in the NCAA Tournament. They lost 5-1 in the first round to Washburn in 2007 and to Northwest Missouri 5-1 in the first round in 2008.
 
UP NEXT
The next action for Emporia State will be a pair of exhibition matches against Cowley County CC on Tuesday, March 11 at the Kossover Family Tennis Center.