FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Wichita State's women's tennis team fell to No. 51 Arkansas during both matches in their double-header by a score of 4-2 and 4-3 at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center in Fayetteville.
The first of the two matches on the day were all singles. In order for there to have been any doubles played during the first match, the singles portion had to be tied at three a piece. Shannon Hudson, the 115th ranked player in the nation from Arkansas, started out the day with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Julia Schiller of the Shockers.
Abby Stevens gave the Shockers their first point of the day by defeating Brittany Huxley of the Razorbacks 6-1, 6-3, to tie the match at one point a piece. No. 51 Arkansas then regained the lead by Kimberely-Ann Surin winning against Montse Blasco Fernandez of the Shockers, 6-2, 4-6, 10-7.
Lucia Kovalova of WSU tied the match at two wins a piece after defeating Sarah McLean of Arkansas by a score of 6-4, 3-6, 10-6. No. 51 Arkansas would win the next two points and clinch the match.
'sandra Shkorumpeieva of Arkansas defeated Satjaporn Mahajaroenkul of WSU by a score of 7-5, 7-6 (7-2). Yang Pang, the 71st ranked player in the nation, sealed the match for the Razorbacks with a 6-7, 7-6, 10-6 victory over Rebecca Pedrazzi of the Shockers.
The second part of the double-header began with doubles. Surin/Huxley of No. 51 Arkansas began the second match with a win over the Shocker team of Kovalova/Veronika Blaskova, 6-0. WSU then tied the match at one a piece with a Pedrazzi/Fernandez (the No. 9 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Doubles Rankings) victory over Pang/Flavia Araujo, 4-3.
No. 51 Arkansas would win the doubles competition two matches to one due to a victory from the team of Hudson/McLean. They defeated Schiller/Stevens, the seventh ranked doubles team in the ITA Central Doubles Rankings, by a score of 4-3.
The singles competitions in the second match began with Hudson defeating Pedrazzi 1-6, 6-2, 10-5. Arkansas would keep their momentum with Surin defeating Fernandez 6-3, 7-5. Stevens would give WSU their first singles win in the second match by beating Shkorupeieva, 6-1, 6-2.
Huxley of the Razorbacks would defeat Mahajaroenkul of WSU 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) in the fourth match, but this was followed by two Shocker wins to close the day. Blaskova won 6-3, 7-5 against McLean while Schiller defeated Pang, 4-6, 6-4, 10-2.
Shocker tennis head coach Colin Foster saw many positives although the Shockers lost both matches.
“There were a lot of positives from today,” Foster said. “Unfortunately we went 0-2, but today, we were tested physically and mentally on the road against a good team. Everyone rose to the challenge and we came up a little short in both matches. We've got some time to rest from a long day and get the school year started. I'm excited to get to work and improve areas that need work, and build on the many positives from today.”
The Shockers next compete in another double-header on Saturday, Feb. 1 when they play against Creighton and UMKC at the Plaza Tennis Center in Kansas City, Mo. Their match against Creighton is at 11:30 a.m. while their match against UMKC will be at 3:30 p.m.
-WICHITA STATE-
