Another Nationally Ranked Matchup for #37 Emporia State Men's Tennis

Men's Tennis | 4/22/2025 3:43:00 PM

#37 Emporia State Hornet Men (10-6, 2-3 MIAA/GAC North)
at 
#15 Harding Bisons Men (13-5, 2-1 MIAA/GAC South)
Wednesday, April 23 | 11:00 q.m.
David Elliott Tennis Complex | Searcy, Ark.
Live Stats: IOnCourt Live Video: None
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next:  Arkansas-Fort Smith
Women: Friday, April 25 | 10:00 a.m. | Kossover Family Tennis Complex | Emporia, Kan.
Men: Friday, April 25 | 2:00 p.m. | Kossover Family Tennis Complex | Emporia, Kan.

DOWN THE STRETCH
The #37 Emporia State men travel to Searcy, Ark. to take on #15 Harding in non-division action in the MIAA/GAC alliance. The team results will not count towards making the conference tournament next week in Springfield, Mo., however the individual results will be taken into consideration for All-MIAA/GAC honors.

LAST TIME OUT
The nationally ranked teams had two duals go to a third set and there were two sets that went to a tiebreaker as the #49 Bearcats defeated the #7 Hornets 4-3.
Northwest Missouri's duo of Vini Rodrigues and Bernardo Henriques defeated Emporia State's Roko Kacer and Hachem Fahem 6-3 at #3 doubles.  Anton Sarunic and Luke West evened things for the Hornets with a 7-5 win over Dominik Wijntjes and Antonon Leborne  at #2.  Alexis Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay, the #36 ranked doubles team in the nation, gave the Hornets a 1-0 lead with a 7-5 win over Rafal Bednarczuk and Luc Mascitti at #1.
The Bearcats tied the dual at 1-1 when Bednarczuk opened singles play with a 7-5, 6-0 win at #3 over Mattenberger.  Mostafa Elbasnaly put the Hornets back in front with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win over Mascitti at #2 singles. It was a top 25 battle at the #1 singles position between #19 Sarunic and #21 Wijntjes that would go down to a tiebreaker in the third set.  Wijntjes prevailed 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) to pull the Bearcats into a 2-2 tie.
Bernardo Henriques put the Bearcats ahead 3-2 with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Digo Calvo at #4 singles before Duvan Santiago Torres evened things for the Hornets with a 6-3, 7-5 win over #75 Leborne at #5 to set up a winner take all match at #6. Emporia State's Hachem Fahem and the Bearcats Rodrigues went back and forth until Rodrigues came away with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 win to clinch the dual for Northwest Missouri.

COACHES
John Blackburn is 20-14 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. 
Former Hornet CyCy Peyroche is 13-21 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.  

QUICK LOOK AT THE HORNETS
The Emporia State men are 10-6 on the season and ranked #37 in the nation. The Hornets are undefeated at home this season. They have gone 2-5 against nationally ranked teams. 
The Hornets are led by Anton Sarunic who is 16-6 overall this year with a 9-4 mark this spring in dual competition at the #1 slot. He is ranked #17 nationally in the individual singles rankings. Mostafa Elbasnaly is 16-9 overall with an 11-6 record in spring duals with seven wins at #2 and two wins each at #1 and #3 singles. Alexis Mattenberger is 17-8 overall with a 12-5 mark in duals, with a 4-0 mark at the #6 position, 4-5 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 6-6 this spring with a 3-1 mark at #6 singles. Duvan Santiago Torres is 14-6 overall and has gone 9-2 this spring with four wins at #5 singles. Diego Calvo is 16-9 overall going 2-0 at #3 and having a 7-4 mark at the #4 singles position this spring. 
Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay are 12-6 on the spring in doubles going 4-0 at #3, 6-5 at #1 and 2-1 at the #2 position and are ranked #36 in the nation. Sarunic and Luke West are 8-8 this spring with a 5-4 record at the #2 position. Elbasnaly and Fahem are 3-3 in doubles this spring with a 3-1 mark at #2. 
Women
Emporia State is 8-9 on the season, 3-4 in the MIAA. The Hornets are 5-1 at home this season against four year schools with two exhibition wins against junior colleges at the Kossover Family Tennis Center. They have gone 1-4 this spring against nationally ranked teams with a 4-3 win over then #38 Rockhurst, a 5-2 loss to then #31 UT-Tyler, a 5-2 loss at #15 Neb.-Kearney, a 5-2 loss at #11 Washburn, and a 6-1 loss at #49 Northwest Missouri.
Giovanna Ferreira has a 6-10 mark at #1 singles this spring and is 10-17 overall with a win over the then #9 player in the nation earlier this spring. Yuliya Klimova is 6-10 at #2 singles and 0-3 at the #1 spot this spring and is 10-16 overall. Perla Conde is 16-10 overall,  11-5 in the spring with a 10-3 record at #3 singles and was named MIAA Female Athlete of the Week on March 12. Lilie Bizouerne is 9-7 this spring with a 3-2 mark at #3 singles, 6-5 record at #4 and is 11-14 overall. She was the MIAA Athlete of the Week earlier this spring. Anastasia Pesic is 10-7 overall and 8-6 this spring, 6-5 at #5 and 2-1 at #4 singles. Paige Stranghoner is 16-10 overall and has a spring record of 8-8, 6-8 at the #6 position. Sheriden Wichman is 6-5 this spring with matches at the #3, #4, and #5 spots. She is 11-11 overall.  
The women have used 11 different doubles combinations this spring. The team of Conde and Bizouerne is 5-4 this spring with a 4-3 mark in MIAA play. Klimova and Pesic are 6-5 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. Bizouerne and Stranghoner have played nine matches at the #1 position with a 3-6 record.

KNOW THE FOE
Harding is 13-5 on the season, 2-1 in the MIAA/GAC South Division and ranked #15 in the nation. They are 2-1 against the MIAA/GAC North Division with wins over Neb.-Kearney and Newman and a loss to Washburn.
Cas deRuiter is 15-15 overall and ranked #9 in the nation . He has lost four of his last six matches. Adrian Solorzano is 18-7 overall and ranked #16 in the nation.  He has won seven of his last eight matches. Luis Agullo Diaz Munio is 17-8 overall and ranked #74 in the nation.  He has won nine straight singles matches. DeRuiter and Solorzano are ranked #26 in the nation in doubles with a 15-11 mark and four straight wins.

LAST TIME VS HARDING
The Emporia State men suffered their first defeat of the season in Springfield, Mo. falling 7-0 to Harding on February 11, 2023. 
The Hornet men did not win a match against the Bisons. Harding took all three doubles matches and won five of the six singles matches in straight sets.  
The Griffons then won five of the six singles matches to clinch the victory.  Wichman picked up the lone win for Emporia State, winning 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-4) at #6 singles.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be just the fourth meeting between Emporia State and Harding. The Bisons have won all three previous meetings with Emporia State coming away with just one match win.

HOW TOUGH IS IT?
Six of the top 50 men's teams in the nation are from the MIAA/GAC with four North Division and two South Division teams. Washburn is ranked #7, Emporia State is #37, Neb.-Kearney is #38, and Northwest Missouri at #49 out of the North while the South has Harding at #15 and Ouachita Baptist at #45 nationally. Nine 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 20 and three total ranked women's teams in NCAA Division II with Washburn ranked #9, Neb.-Kearney at #19 and Northwest Missouri at #49 this week. Six MIAA women's teams have been ranked this spring with five of the six being in the rankings multiple times. Seven schools have at least one nationally ranked singles player. 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
Both the Emporia State men and women will play host to Ark.-Fort Smith on Friday, April 25 at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex. The women will start at 10:00 a.m. with the men scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. It will be Senior Day for the Hornet men.  The women will be hold their Senior Day on Saturday against Northeastern State