Key MIAA Matchup for Emporia State Men's Tennis vs Augustana on Sunday

Men's Tennis | 4/12/2025 11:13:00 AM

#40 Emporia State Hornet Men (9-5, 1-2 MIAA/GAC North)
vs. 
Augustana Vikings (8-6, 1-3 MIAA/GAC North)
Sunday, April 13 | 11:00 a.m. 
Kossover Family Tennis Complex | Emporia, Kan.
Live Stats: IOnCourt Video: The MIAA Network
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: at Northwest Missouri
Friday, April 18 | 2:00 p.m. 
Frank Grube Courts | Maryville, Mo.

SUNDAY SHOWDOWN
Emporia State plays host to Augustana (SD) in a key MIAA/GAC North Division matchup. The winner will be in position to make the MIAA/GAC Tournament. The top four teams in each division will qualify for the post season tournament in Springfield, Mo. Entering Saturday's action the Hornets and Viking are two of four teams that have one win in conference play.

LAST TIME OUT
In a battle of nationally ranked teams #7 Washburn won three singles matches in three sets for a 4-3 win over #40 Emporia State on Wednesday in Topeka.
The Ichabods won all three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead.  WU took a 3-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-2 win at #4 by Tommy Cecchetti and #52 Pavlos Parsons took a 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 win at #3 before Duvan Santiago Torres posted a 6-3, 6-4 win at #6 for Emporia State.   The match was clinched for the Ichabods with a 6-3, 6-2 win by Zino Nahirniak over Hachem Fahem at the #5 spot.
The final two singles matches went to three sets. The Ichabod's #8 Vasek Schneider defeated Mostafa Elbasnaly 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 at the #2 position. In a Top 20 battle #17 Anton Sarunic of Emporia State fell 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to Washburn's sixth ranked Tim Hammes.

THE COACH
John Blackburn is 21-13 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
The Emporia State men are 9-5 on the season and ranked #40 in the nation. The Hornets are undefeated at home this season. They have gone 2-4 against nationally ranked teams. 
The Hornets are led by Anton Sarunic who is 16-4 overall this year with a 9-2 mark this spring in dual competition at the #1 slot. He is ranked #17 nationally in the individual singles rankings. Mostafa Elbasnaly is 14-9 overall with a 9-6 record in spring duals with five wins at #2 and two wins each at #1 and #3 singles. Alexis Mattenberger is 16-7 overall with an 11-4 mark in duals, with a 4-0 mark at the #6 position, 3-4 at #3, 2-0 at #2, and wins at #4 and #5.  Roko Kacer is 3-3 in spring duals, going 2-1 at #5 and splitting two matches at #6. Hachem Kacer is 5-5 this spring with a 3-0 mark at #6 singles. Duvan Santiago Torres is 12-6 overall and has gone 7-2 this spring with three wins at #5 singles. Diego Calvo is 15-8 overall going 2-0 at #3 and having a 6-3 mark at the #4 singles position this spring. 
Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay are 10-6 on the spring in doubles going 4-0 at #3, 4-5 at #1 and 2-1 at the #2 position and are ranked #45 in the nation. Sarunic and Luke West are 6-8 this spring with a 3-4 record at #2 and 3-4 mark at the #1 position. Elbasnaly and Fahem are 3-3 in doubles this spring with a 3-1 mark at the #2 spot. 

KNOW THE FOE
Augustana is 8-6 overall and 1-3 in MIAA/GAC North Division play. This will be their final conference match. They have won four straight matches overall and are 6-1 away from Sioux Falls this season.
Henry Dornbusch is ranked #25 in the nation in singles action with an 8-2 record. In doubles play Dornbusch and Conrad Koch are ranked #21 in the nation and are 8-3 this season. They have used the same three doubles teams in every match this season.

LAST TIME VS AUGUSTANA
After getting swept in doubles play the Emporia State men came back to win five of six singles matches and post a 5-2 win at Augustana in MIAA/GAC North Division play in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The Vikings rolled through doubles action, taking a 6-2 win at #3, a 6-4 win at #1 and a 7-6 win at #2 to go up 1-0.
The Hornets evened the dual at 1-1 as Hachem Fahem won 6-2, 6-2 at #6 singles and then went up 2-1 as Diego Calvo won 6-4, 6-0 at the #3 position.  Augie's Henry Dornbusch won 6-3, 6-3 at #1 over Anton Sarunic to make 2-2.  Mostafa Elbasnaly put the Hornets back in front with a 6-4, 6-2 win at #2 singles. Harrison Brown clinched the dual win with a 6-4, 6-3 victory at #4 to put Emporia State up 4-2.  Lleyton Fosha closed out the dual with 6-4, 0-6, 7-6 win at #5 singles.

SERIES HISTORY
The  Hornets have won five straight over the Vikings with four of the five matches being played in Emporia. 

HOW TOUGH IS IT?
Five of the top 50 men's teams in the nation are from the MIAA/GAC with three North Division and two South Division teams. Washburn is ranked #6, Neb.-Kearney is #36, and Emporia State is #40, out of the North while the South has Harding at #16 and Southern Arkansas at #46 nationally. Eight of the 11 member schools have at least one singles player ranked while six have a doubles team nationally ranked. Eight of the current 11 members of the MIAA/GAC alliance have made multiple NCAA Tournament appearances.
The MIAA has two of the top 15 ranked women's teams in NCAA Division II with Washburn ranked #7 and Neb.-Kearney at #16 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.

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 tourney 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
Emporia State men will play host to Augustana (SD) on Sunday, April 13 at 11:00 a.m. at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex.  The next action for the Hornet women will be on Thursday, April 17 at Missouri Western.  First serve from the Noyes Tennis Courts in St. Joseph, Mo. is set for 2:00 p.m.