Cookout at Kossover On Tap This Weekend For Emporia State Tennis

Men's Tennis | 3/27/2025 8:50:00 PM

Emporia State Hornet Women (6-5, 1-0 MIAA)
vs. Central Oklahoma Bronchos (4-3, 0-0 MIAA)
Friday, March 28 • 3:00 p.m.
Kossover Family Tennis Center • Emporia, Kan.
#31 Emporia State Hornet Men (8-3, 0-0 MIAA)
vs. Newman Jets (6-5, 1-0 MIAA)
Saturday, March 29 • 12:00 p.m.
Kossover Family Tennis Center • Emporia, Kan.
Live Video: The MIAA Network
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: at Neb.-Kearney
Friday, April 4 • 10:00 a.m./2:00 p.m.
Harmon Park • Kearney, Neb.

COOKOUT AT KOSSOVER
The Emporia State tennis teams host their second annual Cookout at Kossover this weekend for the women's match with Central Oklahoma and the #31 men's match with Newman.

LAST TIME OUT
The Emporia State women picked up a 4-3 win over Newman to open MIAA play on Tuesday.
The Hornet men have not played since their Spring Break trip to Florida and a loss to #22 Florida Southern
 
COACHES
Former Hornet CyCy Peyroche is 11-17 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 as the interim coach. Peyroche was 23-15 in singles play during her three years as a Hornet before moving into the graduate assistant position.  
John Blackburn is 20-11 in his second 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. 

QUICK LOOK AT THE HORNETS
Women
The Emporia State women are 6-5 on the season, 1-0 in the MIAA. The Hornets are undefeated at home this season with a 5-0 record against four year schools and two exhibition wins against junior colleges at the Kossover Family Tennis Center. They have gone 1-1 this spring against nationally ranked teams with a 4-3 win over then #38 Rockhurst on March 8 and a 5-2 loss to then #31 UT-Tyler on March 18. 
Giovanna Ferreira has a 4-7 mark at #1 singles this spring and is 8-14 overall. Perla Conde is 13-7 overall,  8-2 in the spring with a 7-1 record at #3 singles and was named MIAA Female Athlete of the Week on March 12. Lilie Bizouerne is 7-4 this spring with a 3-1 mark at #3 singles and 2-3 record at #4 and is 8-12 overall. She was the MIAA Athlete of the Week earlier this spring. Anastasia Pesic is 9-4 overall and 7-3 this spring, 5-2 at #5 and 2-1 at #4 singles. Paige Stranghoner is 13-7 overall and has a spring record of 5-5, 4-5 at the #6 position. Sheriden Wichman is 5-3 this spring with matches at the #3, #4, and #5 spots. She is 10-9 overall. Yuliya Klimova is 4-7 at #2 singles and 0-2 at the #1 spot this spring and is 8-13 overall. 
The women have used nine different doubles combinations this spring. The team of Klimova and Pesic is 6-4 this spring with a 4-1 mark at #3 doubles. Conde and Wichman are 5-2 in the spring with a 3-2 mark at the #2 spot. Bouerne and Stranghoner have played nine matches at the #1 position with a 3-6 record.
Men
The Emporia State men are 8-3 on the season and ranked #31 in the nation. The Hornets are undefeated at home this season. They have gone 2-2 against nationally ranked teams this spring. 
The Hornets are led by Anton Sarunic who is 14-3 overall this year with a 7-1 mark this spring in dual competition at the #1 slot. He is ranked #13 nationally in the latest individual singles rankings. Alexis Mattenberger is 15-5 overall with a 10-2 mark in duals, with a 4-0 mark at the #6 position,2-0 at #2, 2-2 at #3 and wins at #4 and #5.  Mostafa Elbasnaly is 13-7 overall with an 8-4 record in spring duals with four wins at #2 and two wins each at #1 and #3 singles.  Diego Calvo is 14-6 overall going 2-0 at #3 and having a 5-2 mark at the #4 singles position this spring. Duvan Santiago Torres is 11-6 overall and has gone 6-2 this spring with three wins at #5 singles. 
Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay are 10-3 on the spring in doubles going 4-0 at #3, 4-2 at #1 and 2-1 at the #2 position while Elbasnaly and Hachem Fahem are 3-3 in doubles this spring with a 3-1 mark at the #2 spot. 

KNOW THE FOE
The Central Oklahoma women are 4-3, 0-0 in the MIAA. They have dropped their last two duals after a three dual winning streak.
Pete Komada is 7-4 on the year with a 5-1 record in the spring.
The Newman men are 6-5, 1-0 in the MIAA. They have won two straight duals entering the weekend.
Ali Mounir is 7-9 overall with a 2-5 record this spring and wins in his last two matches. 

LAST TIME VS UCO WOMEN
The Emporia State women's tennis team started last year's trip to the Sooner State with a 6-1 loss to Central Oklahoma.
The Bronchos won all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead and then five of six singles matche for the final score.  Anastasia Pesic picked up the lone win with a 6-3, 7-5 win at #4 singles.

LAST TIME VS NEWMAN MEN
Emporia State took the doubles point but Newman won four of six singles matches on the way to a 4-3 in Wichita.
The Hornets won two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead.  Anton Sarunic and Sergio Vera Martin started things with a 6-3 win at #1 before Newman took a 7-5 win at #3.  Mostafa Elbasnaly and Harrison Brown gave Emporia State the double point with a 6-4 win at the #2 position.
The Jets started singles play with wins at #5 and #2 to take a 2-1 lead.  Anton Sarunic evened things for the Hornets with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) win at #1 singles.  Isfan Makhmudov gave Newman a 3-2 lead with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win at #3 over Diego Calvo.  Sergio Vera went three sets before Luca Penteado won 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 at #4 to clinch the win for the Jets.  Hachem Fahem closed the dual at #6 with a 6-3, 3-6, 10- (10-7) win.

HOW TOUGH IS IT?
The MIAA has three of the top 12 ranked women's teams in NCAA Division II with Washburn ranked #8 and Neb.-Kearney at #12 this week. Six MIAA women's teams have been ranked this spring with five of the six being in the rankings multiple times. 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.
Four of the top 40 men's teams in the nation are from the MIAA/GAC with three North Division and one South Division teams. Washburn is ranked #8, Emporia State is #31 and Neb.-Kearney is #36 out of the North while the South has Harding at #16. 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
Both the Emporia State men and women will travel to Neb.-Kearney next Friday.  First serve from Harmon Park is set for 10:00 a.m. for the women with the men to follow.