Men's Tennis | 2/19/2026 8:28:00 PM

Emporia State Hornet Women (2-1) at Southwest Baptist Bearcats (1-3)
Friday, February 20 | 1:00 p.m.
Cooper Tennis Complex | Springfield, Mo.
Emporia State Hornet Men (2-1) at Southwest Baptist Bearcats (1-2)
Friday, February 20 | 1:00 p.m.
Cooper Tennis Complex | Springfield, Mo.
Up Next:  Men at Ark.-Fort Smith
Wednesday, February 25 | 11:00 a.m. |The Hangout | Fort Smith, Ark.
Women at Southern Arkansas
Monday, March 2 | 12:00 p.m. |Live Oak Tennis Courts | Magnolia, Ark.

BACK TO BOLIVAR
Emporia State makes their first trip to Southwest Baptist since the 2019 season.

LAST TIME OUT
Both the Emporia State men and women dropped duals against Rockhurst on Sunday in Lawrence, Kan.
Two of the three men's doubles matches went to a tiebreaker with Rockhurst winning 6-3 at #2 before Luke West and Duvan Santiago Torres picked up a 7-6 (8-6) win at #3 for the equalizer. The Hawks won the point with a 7-6 (7-5) win at #1 doubles. Rockhurst went up 2-0 before Diego Calvo won 7-5, 6-1. Mostafa Elbasnaly evened the dual with a 6-3, 6-2 win at 2 singles.  Anton Sarunic and Killian Guillou went to three sets at #1 with Guillou pulling out a 7-5, 2-6, 6-2 win to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead. A straight sets win at #5 clinched the dual for Rockhurst and the #6 singles match was abandoned.  
The Hawk women swept the doubles competition to take an early 1-0 lead and went up 2-0 with a 6-0, 6-0 win at 3 singles.  Yuliya Klimova won her first set 7-3 in a tiebreaker before dropping the next two sets as Rockhust took a 3-0 lead. The Hawks clinched the win with a 6-4, 7-5 win at #4 singles and the remaining matches were abandoned.

THE COACHES
Former Hornet CyCy Peyroche is 17-23 in her third 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 23-17 in his third 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 women are 2-1 on the season with wins over Bethel and McPherson. They have three returners led by all-MIAA performers Giovanna Ferreira and Yuliya Klimova along with MIAA A-Game Scholar Sheriden Wichman.
The Hornet men are 2-1 to begin the spring with wins over Kansas Wesleyan and William Jewell. They have nine returners led by senior Anton Sarunic, who ended last season ranked #24 in the nation in NCAA Division II singles, and the doubles team of graduate student Gwendal Mazuay and sophomore Alexis Mattenberger who ended last season ranked #45 in the nation in D2 doubles play.

KNOW THE FOES
The Southwest Baptist women are 1-3 this spring with a win over Ouachita Baptist. They lost to MIAA member Central Oklahoma to begin the spring.
The Bearcat men are 1-2 with a win against Saint Mary (Kan.) on Wednesday.

LAST TIME VS THE BEARCATS
This is the first meeting with Southwest Baptist since the 2019 season for both the men and women.
The Emporia State women fell to nationally ranked Southwest Baptist 6-1 in Bolivar, Mo. in regular season action. Silvana Caceres got the lone victory for Emporia State picking up a 6-0, 6-0 win at #6 singles. 
The Emporia State men' saw their season come to an end with a 4-0 loss to top seeded Southwest Baptist in the MIAA Tournament semifinals. Charles Gortzounian and Taylor Nelson fell 6-1 at #1 doubles while Lukas Winlkler fell 6-3, 6-1 at #3 singles. 

SERIES HISTORY
The Hornet men have never defeated Southwest Baptist in the dual play era. The Emporia State women have dropped ten straight since a 5-4 win over the Bearcats on March 15, 2011 in Bolivar.

UP NEXT
The Hornet men travel to Ark.-Fort Smith on Wednesday, February 25 to take on the Lions.
The Emporia State women are off until March 2 when they head to Magnolia, Ark. to take on Southern Arkansas.

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