[Men's Tennis] Men's Tennis faces rival Swedes in KCAC Quarterfinals Monday

Kansas Wesleyan tennis coach Josh Molino understands and appreciates the importance of Monday's dual against the Bethany Swedes.

The longtime rivals play in the quarterfinals of Kansas Conference men's tournament at 10:30 a.m. at Salina Central High School. KWU is the third seed and Bethany the sixth.

The winner advances to the semifinals and a match against second seeded and No. 25-ranked McPherson at 2 p.m. Friday at the Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka. The championship match will be play Saturday at Kossover, the winner qualifying for the NAIA national tournament.

Southwestern is the tournament's top seed and will play the winner of Monday's quarterfinal at Ottawa between No. 4 Ottawa and No. 5 Bethel on Friday.

The Coyote men have never beaten Bethany and lost to the Swedes 6-3 in their regular-season match March 20 at Central High.

"There's a lot riding on this one," said Molino, who's in his first season at KWU. "I'm really proud of the team so far because we put ourselves in the position to have a postseason berth."

KWU's 7-7 overall, but lost its last two matches of the regular season to McPherson and conference champion and Southwestern. Bethany's 6-8 and has won its last two matches.

Molino said his team has been close to putting everything together.

"We're looking forward to everybody playing their best match together," he said. "We've had so many great matches from the guys, but we've been just a little bit off.

"Monday's got to be that day where we leave a legacy for this senior class and be the first team in history to beat Bethany. It's not really so much pressure, but an opportunity."

Molino said he's counting on a quartet of players to lead the way.

"We lean on our Four Horseman, as I call them, and that's our three seniors Michael (Moody), Mario (Rincon) and Felix (Diaz)," he said. "And (junior) Luis Soto (JR/Santo Domingo, Dominican Repub) has been great all year, he was clutch against Ottawa and that really propelled us into the three spot."

Molino likes the way the Coyotes are playing despite the recent setbacks that ended a six-match winning streak. KWU lost to No. 20 Southwestern 6-3 in a tight dual in the regular season finale Wednesday at Central High.

"We battled the No. 20 team toe to toe and I couldn't be more impressed with our guys handled some situations," he said. "Again, we're looking for that match where we can put all the pieces together and we feel like anything can happen if we show up like that."