ESU women’s tennis team not backing down from NCAA matchup with No. 1 BYU-Hawaii
By Jesse Newell
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Emporia State women’s tennis coach John Cayton isn’t ready to back down to tennis powerhouse BYU-Hawaii.
He doesn’t believe his team will, either.
“Our women aren’t like that. They like the challenge, and they like to play the best,” Cayton said. “They relish that challenge — the tougher the better. They’re going to get to test their skills against the best in the nation.”
The best in the nation will come sooner rather than later for ESU, as the Lady Hornets will face No. 1-ranked and defending national champion BYU-Hawaii at 4 p.m. EST Wednesday in Altamonte Springs, Fla. at the NCAA Sweet 16.
The Seasiders have won four of the last five NCAA Division-II National Championships.
“We know they’re good and that they’re going to be one heck of a team,” Cayton said, “but to win the tournament we were going to have to beat them anyway.”
ESU advanced to its first-ever Sweet 16 by defeating Nebraska-Omaha, 5-2, in Friday’s Regional finals in Emporia.
Now, the Lady Hornets will put themselves against the best tennis athletes that D-II has to offer.
“We’re excited,” ESU senior Karly Schultz said. “It’s going to be nice to see where we’re at.”
BYU-Hawaii enters the tournament with a 29-0 record. That includes victories over Division-I teams Gonzaga, Cleveland State and Hawaii.
The Seasiders have swept 21 of their 29 duals, with their closest matches UH-Hilo (7-2) and Gonzaga (7-2).
Two of their players enter with undefeated records, while three others have just one loss.
“We can’t go into any match thinking that we’ve already lost or that we’re already beat,” Cayton said. “We know they’re a good team, but we are as well.”
Schultz also will try to keep her perfect record intact, as she has not lost a No. 4 singles match all year.
To have a chance, ESU will need to get off to a good start with doubles. The teamed matches have been a strong point for the Lady Hornets all year.
“I think it definitely is important,” Schultz said. “They definitely have a lot of singles players, and doubles probably isn’t something they look forward to.”
“We’re going to try to go out, do our best,” ESU senior Lacey Luina said, “and just be happy to be there.”
The Lady Hornets should also be able to enjoy a change from the dreary Kansas weather.
Luina said the conditions had to be better than rain-soaked Kansas.
“We’ll be in Florida,” Luina said. “The forecast there doesn’t matter.”
ESU softball, baseball
gametimes announced
Both the Emporia State softball team and baseball team had their tournament brackets unveiled on Monday for this weekend’s postseason action.
The softball team will play its first game of Regionals at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, taking on seventh-seeded Central Missouri in Mankato, Minn.
The Hornets (46-10) earned the No. 2 seed, with Minnesota-Mankato (43-12) taking the No. 1 seed.
ESU previously defeated Central, 9-0 and 10-2, in a pair of run-rule shortened games on April 21 in Emporia.
The Hornets posted an 8-1 record against teams in their Regional, with the only loss coming to No. 8 Missouri Western last week.
The ESU baseball team plays its first game in the MIAA Tournament at 1 p.m. Friday against third-seeded Northwest Missouri State in Warrensburg, Mo.
After a four-game sweep of Truman in the final series of the year, the Hornets (35-21) moved all the way up to second in the conference standings.
The winner of the ESU/Northwest game will play the winner of the Central Missouri/Fort Hays State game at 3:30 Saturday. The losers of the two contests will face off at noon on Saturday.