Three Kangaroos garner 2008 First Team all-Summit League honors

By: Dan Stroud

Posted: 6/2/08

Positive indicators tend to be important. In 2008, the UMKC men's and women's tennis program, led by first year head coach Kendall Hale offered up several to their Kangaroo constituency.

The women broke out of a 58-match losing string on their way to what turned out to be a respectable rebuilding year.

The men overcame early season difficulties and managed a strong enough showing in the regular season to qualify for the inaugural Summit League Championships.

The week of May 8-14, the news got even better for Hale and his group of overachieving student athletes. During this seven-day stretch, two Kangaroo men and one woman were placed on their prospective First Team all-Summit League rosters.

On May 9, the Summit League office in Elmhurst, Ill. announced that redshirt sophomore Patrick Smith and freshman Serge Ristivojevic had played their way onto the top squad. Three days later, junior Emily Lindsay was planted on the Summit women's best team.

Smith earned his first such all-league honor having compiled a record of 6-7 overall on the season, which included a clutch 4-0 Summit record. All of Smith's impressive work came in either the No. 1 or No. 2 position. Such placement all but insured that he would pull the opposing team's elite players every time out.

A native of Munich, Germany, Smith finished the season impressively, winning five of his final seven matches of the season. Perhaps his greatest badge of honor over the course of the season came when he broke up a 14-match winning streak by Western Illinois University senior Martin Bostrom in March.

The Australia-born Ristivojevic played nearly the entire season in the number 1 position and was rewarded with First Team honors despite a 5-8 singles record. The quality of play in the Summit League, not to mention the level of competition UMKC faced in non-conference play likely contributed to both players' strong seasons.

Sophomore Dennis Schwarz finished his season on second team all-Summit. It was Schwarz's second consecutive second team honor.

May 12 turned out to be a banner day for Lindsay. It was on that day the junior, who transferred in from Northwest Missouri State, became the first Kangaroo woman to be named to a league first team since Erin Rosenberg achieved the feat in 2003 as a member of the First Team all- Mid Continent Conference women's team.

dstroud@unews.com