Emporia State Begins MIAA-GAC Tournament Play With Ouachita Baptist

Men's Tennis | 4/29/2025 5:20:00 PM

Emporia State Hornet Men (11-7, 2-3 MIAA/GAC North)
vs. 
#34 Ouachita Baptist Tigers (12-8, 4-0 MIAA/GAC South)
Wednesday, April 30 | 9:00 a.m.
Cooper Tennis Complex | Springfield, Mo.
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next:  Winner vs Northwest Missouri/Southern Arkansas winner
Thursday, April 27 | 2:00 p.m. | Cooper Tennis Complex | Springfield, Mo.

POST SEASON TIME
The Emporia State men tennis team takes on #34 Ouachita Baptist in the first round of the MIAA/GAC Postseason Tournament. The Hornets are the #4 seed out of the North Division while the Tigers secured the top seed out of the South Division. It is the first trip to the post season for Emporia State since they competed in the 2019 MIAA Tournament prior to the MIAA and GAC joining into a scheduling alliance for the 2019-20 school year.

LAST TIME OUT
The Emporia State men's tennis team raced to a 4-0 win over Ark.-Fort Smith on Friday afternoon to complete an undefeated home season at the Kossover Family Tennis Center.
The Hornets quickly secured the doubles point with a pair of 6-1 wins. Hachem Fahem and Roko Kacer won at #1 while Diego Calvo and Mostafa Elbasnaly took the win at #2 doubles. The Lions salvaged the final doubles match with a 6-4 win at #3 over Harris Kossover and Gwendal Mazuay.
Mazuay put the Hornets up 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win at #6 singles followed quickly by a 6-1, 6-3 win at #5 by Fahem.  Kacer clinched the dual win with a 6-4, 6-2 win at #4 to end the day. With the threat of incoming weather  and the travel time back to Arkansas for the Lions, the match was played to clinch. 

COACHES
John Blackburn is 21-14 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. 

QUICK LOOK AT THE HORNETS
The Emporia State men are 11-7 on the season, 2-3 in the MIAA/GAC North Division and the fourth seed from the North in the conference tournament. The Hornets went undefeated at home this season and were 2-2 at neutral sites. They have gone 2-6 against nationally ranked teams. ESU has five wins that were 7-0 while three of their losses have been 4-3.
The Hornets are led by Anton Sarunic who is 16-7 overall this year with a 9-5 mark this spring in dual competition at the #1 slot. He is ranked #22 nationally in the individual singles rankings. Mostafa Elbasnaly was named honorable mention All-MIAA in singles. He is 16-10 overall with an 11-7 record in spring duals with seven wins at #2 and two wins each at #1 and #3 singles. Alexis Mattenberger is 17-9 overall with a 12-6 mark in duals, with a 4-0 mark at the #6 position, 4-6 at #3, 2-0 at #2, and wins at #4 and #5.  Roko Kacer is 5-3 in spring duals, with a win at #4 and going 2-1 both at #5 and #6. Hachem Fahem is 7-6 this spring with a 3-1 mark at #6 singles. Duvan Santiago Torres is 14-7 overall and has gone 9-3 this spring with four wins at #5 singles. Diego Calvo is 17-9 overall going 2-0 at #3 and having an 8-4 mark at the #4 singles position this spring. 
The Hornets have used eight different doubles combinations this spring. Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay are 12-7 on the spring in doubles going 4-0 at #3, 6-6 at #1 and 2-1 at the #2 position and are ranked #36 in the nation. Sarunic and Luke West are 8-9 this spring with a 5-5 record at the #2 position. Fahem and Kacer are 7-3 in the spring with a 5-3 mark at #3 doubles to go with single wins at #1 and #2. Elbasnaly and Fahem are 3-3 in doubles this spring with a 3-1 mark at #2. 

KNOW THE FOE
Ouachtia Baptist is 12-8 overall, went 4-0 in the MIAA/GAC South Division and are ranked #34 nationally. They were ranked fourth in the latest NCAA Central Region Rankings. They went 1-2 against the North Division this spring. They are 7-6 away from Arkadelphia, Ark. this year with a 2-2 mark at neutral sites. 
Phil Exner is the #1 ranked singles player in the ITA National Rankings with a 22-5 overall record and was a First-Team All-MIAA/GAC performer. Ramon Strassmann is ranked #44 nationally. Together they are ranked #9 in the ITA National Rankings and were named Second-Team All-MIAA/GAC.

LAST TIME VS OUACHITA BAPTIST
The ninth ranked Ouachita Baptist men shutout Emporia State 7-0 on March 14, 2023. Jaden Tredway was able to go to a third set falling 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at #5 for the Hornets.

SERIES HISTORY
The  Hornets trail the Tigers 2-0 all-time.  Ouachita Baptist won 4-0 in February of 2022 in Emporia before taking a 7-0 win in March of 2023 in Arkadelphia.

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 #9, Northwest Missouri at #40, and Neb.-Kearney is #41 out of the North while the South has Harding at #21 and Ouachita Baptist at #34 nationally. Nine of the 11 member schools have at least one singles player ranked while five 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 25 and three total ranked women's teams in NCAA Division II with Washburn ranked #13, Neb.-Kearney at #23 and Northwest Missouri at #37 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
The winner will play on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. against the winner of the dual between Northwest Missouri and Southern Arkansas.