Over the offseason, Wichita State men’s tennis lost two players through graduation — Marcelo Sepulveda and Misha Kvantaliani — and sophomore Richey King, who transferred to the University of Kansas and no longer plays tennis.
As a result, head coach Darragh Glavin signed four freshmen — Zaid Al Mashni, Amir Milushev, Luca Mindrut and Ilias Worthington — and a sophomore transfer from Queens University in Charlotte, Arenui Luethi, to beef up this year’s roster.
When recruiting, Glavin wanted hungry players who strive to continue working and developing their games, noting the energy of the players he brought in.
“They’re competitors,” Glavin said. “They’re going to be ‘tough to beat,’ kind of guys. So I think they’re going to bring the team together and … bring a good atmosphere on the court and just (a) ‘leave it all out there,’ kind of attitude.”
Last year, the Shockers finished with a 5-18 record, ending the season with a loss against the University of Tulsa in the first round of the American Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament. Glavin is entering his third year at the helm of WSU.
With no seniors on the team, Glavin pointed to juniors Luke Bracks and Kristof Minarik as the new leaders of this year’s group of players, saying that the two help the underclassmen figure out the “day-to-day” tasks, answering any questions they bring because “they’ve been through (it) at least three times around.”
Bracks shared the sentiment.
“We have to hold each other accountable,” Bracks said. “If you see something … you have to let them know in a positive way. And also, just (leading) by example. If you do it and they see it‘s successful, everyone tends to end up doing a successful (job).”
Despite Minarik and Bracks stepping up for the time being, Glavin said, “We’ll see … as the spring goes on, who’s really going to stand out as a leader.” But for now, “those two are the ones that have kind of stepped up a little bit more right now, as the upperclassmen.”
Elevated play
With each offseason comes development. While the WSU men’s tennis team geared up for the spring season, Glavin said Bracks has improved his singles and doubles game and is excited to see what he can do throughout the season.
“I think right away (in) both singles and doubles, he’ll be right there knocking on the door, being in the lineup, being able to push guys,” Glavin said. “And when he gets his chance, I know he’s going to be ready to go because he’s proven he can beat that level at the top.”
From a player’s perspective, Bracks thinks Worthington, Minarik and junior Alejandro Jacome have made major strides over the offseason.
Minarik and Jacome both made history during the fall, becoming the first WSU duo to reach the doubles qualifying round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Championships since 2011. The pair also advanced to the doubles semifinals of the AAC Individual Championships.
During the AAC Individual Championships, Minarik reached the round of 16 before falling in two sets.
Despite not playing for WSU over the fall, Worthington has “A lot of talent (and) young energy,” according to Bracks.
“He’ll bring a young kind of fire and energy,” Bracks said. “He’s going to bring in passion … he’s an aggressive tennis player as well, so (it’s) good to have that as a player.”
Adjustments and expectations
Even though the team brought in five new players this season, Glavin doesn’t expect that the play style will change too much — he’ll add their skill sets where they fit.
As far as anything new goes, Bracks said the biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s is the coaching staff. The team brought in a new assistant coach, Sonam Phuntsok, and a new graduate assistant coach, Joan Grosset.
“They’ve been good additions so far,” Bracks said. “(They have) good, positive inputs for the team and (bring) different insights.”
Glavin said he expects the young group to focus on improving every day in practice, and in turn, the wins will come with time.
“We have a team that … every match we play, we can win,” Glavin said. “So I’m excited to see us kind of just progress throughout the season and just competing, leave it all out there and focus on getting better each day.”
Bracks said the team has a shot at a winning record, which would be their first since the 2020-21 season.
“(But) the main goal is to build our team at our level, to have a good, deep, run in (the) conference and have a shot at (winning the conference tournament),” Bracks said.
Glavin said the season will be successful if the team can win the AAC Championship and make the NCAA Championships.
“But I think it’s just knowing that we’ll have competed in every single match,” Glavin said. “And if we win, great; if we don’t, then we know the other team was just too good on that day. I think that will be a success for us — if we can look back at all our matches and know there’s not much more we could have done and we left it all out there.”
After a pair of wins on Jan. 25 and 26, Wichita State will look for its third straight in a match on the road at the University of Arkansas. The first serve against the Razorbacks is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 2, at 11 a.m.
