Photo GalleryWICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State made a clean sweep of the top-six All-Missouri Valley Conference singles honors and gobbled up two of the three doubles spots at Thursday night's pre-MVC Tournament banquet.
Head coach
Colin Foster won his third-consecutive MVC Coach of the Year Award and his fourth in seven seasons at WSU, while sophomore
Gabriela Porubin took home MVC Player of the Year honors.
Porubin (No. 1 singles),
Rebecca Pedrazzi (No. 2),
Julia Schiller (No. 3),
Giulia Guidetti (No. 4),
Aleksandra Trifunovic (No. 5) and
Abby Stevens (No. 6) became just the second group in Shocker history to claim all six singles awards, joining the 2011-12 team.
Over the past 10 years, the Shockers have taken 42 of a possible 60 positions in the all-conference singles lineup, helped by their nine regular season team titles.
The No. 2 doubles doubles combo of Pedrazzi and Trifunovic and the No. 3 duo of Guidetti and Stevens also made the list. Illinois State held down the No. 1 doubles spot.
Foster - 135-52 in seven seasons – has never lost an MVC match, going 48-0 in the regular season and 17-0 in MVC Tournament play. He joins Les Stafford (1991, 95, 96, 98) as the only WSU coaches to win four conference coach of the year awards.
Porubin (25-9 and ranked 94th nationally) is WSU's seventh MVC Player of the Year in the last 10 seasons.
Pedrazzi (21-9) earned her third all-conference singles honor as a Shocker. She was chosen at No. 3 singles in 2015 and at No. 2 in 2014.
Fellow senior Schiller finishes out a decorated career of her own, becoming just the fifth player in school history to earn all-conference singles accolades in all four seasons. Stephanie Dalmacio (2007-10), Lutfiana Budiharto (2009-12), Lenore Lazaroiu (2007-10) and
Lucia Kovalova (2011-15) are the others. All five have played under Foster.
It's the first All-Valley nod for Guidetti (36-5), who set a school record for wins in a season.
Stevens (30-11) finishes out her career with back-to-back all-conference plaudits and is the first player in WSU history to earn multiple 30-win seasons in career.
The Shockers (24-3 and ranked No. 28 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Rankings) open their MVC Tournament title defense Friday morning (one hour earlier than originally scheduled), with an 8 a.m. match against eighth-seeded Evansville.
If weather conditions remain favorable the match will be outdoors at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex. In the event of rain or high winds, the teams will move indoors to the Wichita Country Club.
-Wichita State-
2016 MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE WOMEN'S TENNIS ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
No. 1 Singles Gabriela Porubin, Wichita StateNo. 2 Singles Rebecca Pedrazzi, Wichita StateNo. 3 Singles Julia Schiller, Wichita StateNo. 4 Singles Giulia Guidetti, Wichita StateNo. 5 Singles Aleksandra Trifunovic, Wichita StateNo. 6 Singles Abby Stevens, Wichita State All-Select Xiwei Cai, Southern Illinois
All-Select Ariel Dechter, Bradley
All-Select Veronika Golanova, Illinois State
All-Select Maddie Johnson, Drake
All-Select Marcia Tere-Apisah, Illinois State
All-Select Ema Turudija, Missouri State
No. 1 Doubles Veronika Golanova & Marcia Tere-Apisah, Illinois State
No. 2 Doubles Rebecca Pedrazzi & Aleksandra Trifunovic, Wichita StateNo. 3 Doubles Abby Stevens & Giulia Guidetti, Wichita State PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Gabriela Porubin, Wichita StateFRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Katie Fries, Southern Illinois
COACH OF THE YEAR: Colin Foster, Wichita State
MVC SCHOLAR ATHLETES First TeamAriel Dechter, Bradley
Polina Dozortsevao, Southern Illinois
Tess Herder, Drake
Kadi Ilves, Illinois State
Maddie Johnson, Drake
Meagan Monaghan, Southern Illinois
Rebecca Pedrazzi, Wichita State Miranda Poile, Missouri State
Catherine Shulman, Illinois State
Irinka Toidze, Bradley
Honorable MentionMariel Ante, Drake
Alexa Brandt, Bradley
Andjela Brguljan, Evansville
Elvira Lopez, UNI
Sarah Paulson, Illinois State
Ashley Thai, Bradley
Aleksandra Trifunovic, Wichita State
