Emporia State Women's Tennis Opens MIAA Tournament Against UCO

Women's Tennis | 5/1/2025 11:09:00 AM

Emporia State Hornets (10-9, 5-4 MIAA)
vs. 
Central Oklahoma Bronchos (10-6, 6-3 MIAA)
Friday, May 2 | 2:00 p.m. 
Cooper Tennis Complex | Springfield, Mo.
Live Stats: IOnCourt
Complete Notes in pdf
Up Next:  Winner vs. Neb.-Kearney
Saturday, May 3 | 10:00 a.m.
Cooper Tennis Complex | Springfield, Mo.

MEMORIES ARE MADE IN MAY
Fifth seeded Emporia State will be making their first trip to the MIAA Tournament since 2022 when they take on fourth seeded Central Oklahoma at the Cooper Tennis Complex.

LAST TIME OUT
Emporia State clinched the fifth seed in the MIAA Women's Tennis Tournament with a 6-1 win over Northeastern State on Senior Day at the Kossover Family Tennis Center.
The Hornets got ahead early with wins at #2 and #3 doubles. Lilie Bizouerne and Perla Conde won 6-2 at #2 while Anastasia Pesic and Sheriden Wichman picked up a 6-3 win at #3 doubles.  Paige Stranghoner and Andrea Santiago were leading 4-2 at #1 when the match was abandoned to get to singles quicker in case of weather.
Stranghoner did not drop a game at #6 singles with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Josie Jarvis while Pesic took a 6-0, 6-2 win over Camila de Micheleat #5 to put Emporia State up 3-0.  Giovanna Ferreira fell 6-3, 6-2 to Adel Ismagulova at #1 to get Northeastern State their only point before Bizouerne clinched the dual win with a 6-2, 6-1 win at #4 singles. Yuliya Klimova won 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7) at #2 singles while Conde took a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 win at #3 to finish the dual.

COACHES
Former Hornet CyCy Peyroche is 15-21 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.  
John Blackburn is 21-15 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
Emporia State is 10-9 on the season, 5-4 in the MIAA. It is their first above .500 record in MIAA play since 2014. The Hornets went 7-1 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 all four losses on the road or at a neutral site. Anastasia Pesic and Paige Stranghoner are the only two Hornets that have played in the MIAA Tournament.
Giovanna Ferreira earned honorable mention All-MIAA honors as she went 3-4 in conference play at #1 singles. She has a 7-11 mark at #1 singles this spring and is 11-18 overall with a win over the then #9 player in the nation earlier this spring. Yuliya Klimova was named honorable mention All-MIAA after going 4-5 in MIAA play with a 4-3 mark at #2 singles in conference action. She is 8-10 at #2 singles and 0-3 at the #1 spot this spring and is 12-16 overall. Perla Conde is a second-team All-MIAA selection after going 6-3 in conference play with a 5-2 mark at the #3 spot. She is 18-10 overall,  13-5 in the spring with a 12-3 record at #3 singles and was named MIAA Female Athlete of the Week on March 12. Lilie Bizouerne is 11-7 this spring with a 3-2 mark at #3 singles, 8-5 record at #4 and is 13-14 overall. She was the MIAA Athlete of the Week earlier this spring. Anastasia Pesic is 12-7 overall and 10-6 this spring, 8-5 at #5 and 2-1 at #4 singles. Paige Stranghoner is 18-10 overall and has a spring record of 10-8, 8-8 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 earned second-team All-MIAA honors after going 6-3 at the #2 position in conference play. They are 7-4 this spring. Klimova and Pesic are 6-5 this spring with a 4-1 mark at #3 doubles. Pesic and Wichman are 5-2 in the spring with a 4-2 mark at the #3 spot in MIAA play. Santiago and Stranghoner are 2-2  this spring, all in MIAA play, going 1-1 at both #1 and #3 doubles. Bizouerne and Stranghoner have played nine matches at the #1 position with a 3-6 record.

KNOW THE FOE
Central Oklahoma is 10-6 overall, 6-3 in the MIAA and the fourth seed in the MIAA Tournament.  They had won four in a row before falling to Neb.-Kearney in their final regular season dual in Edmond. The Bronchos are led by Pete Komada who is ranked #26 in the nation with a 13-6 overall record and 6-3 mark in the MIAA at #1 singles. She was a first-team All-MIAA selection. Nefeli Zafeiri was a second-team All-MIAA pick after going 5-3 in conference play at the #2 spot and 6-8 overall. Zafeiri and Anika Ouwejan were named second-team All-MIAA with a 5-3 mark in the association. 

LAST TIME VS CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
Emporia State women's tennis won the doubles point but could not convert in singles, falling twice third set tiebreakers in a 6-1 loss to Central Oklahoma on March 28 at the Kossover Family Tennis Center.
Yuliya Klimova and Paige Stranghoner got things started for the Hornets with a 6-4 win at #1 doubles followed by a 7-5 win at #2 from Lilie Bizouerne and Perla Conde to earn the doubles point.
Central Oklahoma won the first three singles matches at #4, #2 and #1 to go up 3-1.  Bizouerne fell at #3 despite going to a tiebreaker in the second set as the Bronchos clinched the dual win.  Stranghoner and Anastasia Pesic both went to a third set tiebreakers at #5 and #6 singles to round out the dual.

SERIES HISTORY
The  Bronchos lead the all-time series 12-3 and have won nine straight in the series. They are 1-1 in MIAA Tournament play. The Hornets have won two of three matches played in Springfield, Mo. including the last conference tournament matchup in 2014. 
 
HOW TOUGH IS IT?
The MIAA has two of the top 25 and three total ranked women's teams in NCAA Division II with Washburn ranked #14, Neb.-Kearney at #22 and Northwest Missouri at #43 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 singles player ranked in the top 50 nationally. 
This week's NCAA Central Regional Rankings have four of the eight teams from the MIAA. 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 top seeded Neb.-Kearney in the MIAA Semifinals at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 3 at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield, Mo.