Weekend Trip West for Emporia State Tennis Teams

Women's Tennis | 4/3/2025 12:46:00 PM

#28 Emporia State Hornet Men (9-3, 1-0 MIAA)
at #43 Neb.-Kearney Lopers Men (8-11, 0-2 MIAA)
Friday, April 4 | 2:00 p.m. | Ernest Grundy Tennis Center | Kearney, Neb.
Emporia State Hornet Women (6-5, 1-0 MIAA)
at #15 Neb.-Kearney Lopers (12-3, 2-0 MIAA)
Friday, April 4 | 10:00 a.m. | Ernest Grundy Tennis Center | Kearney, Neb.
at Fort Hays State Tigers (11-4, 1-2 MIAA)
Monday, April 7 | 2:00 p.m. | FHSU Tennis Courts | Hays, Kan.
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next: at Washburn
Men: Wednesday, April 9 | 2:00 p.m.
Women: Thursday, April 10 | 2:00 p.m.
Washburn Tennis Complex | Topeka, Kan.

GO WEST
The Emporia State tennis teams travel to the western part of the MIAA with both teams taking on nationally ranked Neb.-Kearney squads on Friday before the women play at Fort Hays State on Monday.

LAST TIME OUT
The then #31 Emporia State men swept Newman to open up MIAA play on Saturday at the Kossover Family Tennis Complex.
After opening MIAA play with a 4-3 win over Newman on Tuesday, the Emporia State women's tennis won the doubles point but could not convert in singles, falling twice in third set tiebreakers in a 6-1 loss to Central Oklahoma on Friday at the Kossover Family Tennis Center.
 
COACHES
Former Hornet CyCy Peyroche is 11-18 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 21-11 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 6-6 on the season, 1-1 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 1-1 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 but has not played the last two matches due to illness. Perla Conde is 13-8 overall,  8-3 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 7-5 this spring with a 3-2 mark at #3 singles and 2-3 record at #4 and is 8-13 overall. She was the MIAA Athlete of the Week earlier this spring. Anastasia Pesic is 9-5 overall and 7-4 this spring, 5-3 at #5 and 2-1 at #4 singles. Paige Stranghoner is 13-8 overall and has a spring record of 5-6, 4-6 at the #6 position. Sheriden Wichman is 5-4 this spring with matches at the #3, #4, and #5 spots. She is 10-10 overall. Yuliya Klimova is 4-8 at #2 singles and 0-3 at the #1 spot this spring and is 8-14 overall. 
The women have used ten 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 9-3 on the season and ranked #28 in the nation. The Hornets are undefeated at home this season. They have gone 2-2 against nationally ranked teams. 
The Hornets are led by Anton Sarunic who is 15-3 overall this year with a 8-1 mark this spring in dual competition at the #1 slot. He is ranked #16 nationally in the latest individual singles rankings. Alexis Mattenberger is 16-5 overall with an 11-2 mark in duals, with a 4-0 mark at the #6 position, 3-2 at #3, 2-0 at #2, and wins at #4 and #5.  Mostafa Elbasnaly is 14-7 overall with a 9-4 record in spring duals with five wins at #2 and two wins each at #1 and #3 singles.  Diego Calvo is 15-6 overall going 2-0 at #3 and having a 6-2 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. Hachem Kacer is 4-3 this spring with a 2-0 mark at #6 singles. Roko Kacer is 2-1 in spring duals, going 1-0 at #5 and splitting two matches at #6.
Mattenberger and Gwendal Mazuay are 11-3 on the spring in doubles going 4-0 at #3, 5-2 at #1 and 2-1 at the #2 position while Elbasnaly and Fahem are 3-3 in doubles this spring with a 3-1 mark at the #2 spot. 

KNOW THE FOES
The Neb.-Kearney men are 8-11 on the year with losses to Augustana and Northwest Missouri in MIAA/GAC North Division play.  The Lopers are ranked #43 nationally.
Jip Mens is 18-6 overall with a 10-2 mark at #2 singles. He is ranked #46 in the nation.
The Neb.-Kearney women are 12-0 overall with MIAA wins over Northwest Missouri and Missouri Western in their last two outings. The Lopers are ranked #15 in the nation.
Fabiana Gamboa is ranked #9 in the nation and Narindra Ranaivo is ranked #26 nationally for the Lopers. Gamboa is 17-6 overall with a 10-4 record at #1 singles.  Ranaivo is 15-7 overall and 8-3 at #2 singles. 
The Fort Hays State women are 11-4 overall and 1-2 the MIAA. They have a win over Missouri Western and losses to Washburn and Northwest Missouri.
Irina Alfonso is 15-5 on the year with an 8-3 record at #2 singles.

LAST TIME VS UNK MEN
The Lopers won all three doubles competition to start out with a 1-0 lead.  Anton Sarunic started singles play with a 6-4, 6-2 win at #1 to even things up before Mostafa Elbasnaly picked up a 6-4, 6-3 win at #2 to give the Hornets a 2-1 lead. UNK won at #3 and #5 to go back in front 3-2.  UNK's Jakub Strzelecki and ESU's Diego Calvo would go three sets with Strzelecki winning the first set in a tiebreaker 7-5 before Calvo grabbed a 6-3 win in the second. Strzelecki then clinched the dual for UNK with a 6-0 win in the third set.  Hachem Fahem won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win at #6 singles for ESU's final point.

LAST TIME VS UNK WOMEN
The Emporia State women were able to win one match in doubles in a 7-0 loss at #22 Neb.-Kearney.
Perla Conde Vendrell and Sheriden Wichman had the closest doubles match falling 7-6 (7-4) at #3 doubles for the Hornets. With three of the six singles players nationally ranked for UNK, Emporia State did not win a set in singles action. Angelina Gnezdilova had the closest match, falling 7-5, 7-5 at #4 singles.

LAST TIME VS FHSU WOMEN
The Emporia State women picked up a 6-1 win at Fort Hays State.
The Hornets got in front early thanks to the doubles competition.  Perla Conde Vendrell and Sheriden Wichman won 6-1 at #3 while Angelina Gnezdilova teamed with Andrea Santiago to win 6-1 at #1 and clinch the doubles point.
Paige Stranghoner got the singles action started with a 6-0, 6-2 win at #5 while Conde Vendrell won 6-2, 6-3 at #1 to give the Hornets a 3-0 lead.  Santiago clinched the dual win with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at #6 singles. Lilie Bizourne won 6-0, 6-4 at #3 and Gnezdilova took a 6-1, 6-4 win at #4 singles to close out the scoring for Emporia State.

HOW TOUGH IS IT?
The MIAA has two of the top 15 ranked women's teams in NCAA Division II with Washburn ranked #11 and Neb.-Kearney at #15 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.
Six of the top 45 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 #28, Neb.-Kearney is #43 and Northwest Missouri is rnaked #45 out of the North while the South has Harding at #14 and Southern Arkansas at #39 nationally. 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 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 travel to Washburn next week for Turnpike Tussle action.  The men will play in Topeka on Wednesday and the women on Thursday.