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UPDATE 1/12: The Saturday men's tennis opener vs. Creighton has been postponed, due to the weekend's forecast of inclement weather.

WICHITA, Kan. - The Wichita State tennis teams are set to begin the spring season with several matches this week.

Head coach Colin Foster and the women's team start their quest for an eighth-straight Missouri Valley Conference title on Jan. 13-15 at the National Collegiate Tennis Classic in Rancho Mirage, Calif. Considered to be one of the top national spring competitions every year, this year's field includes: No. 17 Texas, Baylor, No. 4 Stanford, No. 25 UCLA, University of San Diego, No. 5 Oklahoma State, Arizona, and event host No. 18 USC. The Classic has a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw.

Foster, who has won three consecutive Valley Coach of the Year awards, returns several key contributors to last year's record-breaking team. Juniors Gabriela Porubin - the MVC Player of the Year last season - and Giulia Guidetti, who currently is ranked No. 93 in ITA's singles rankings and was an all-Valley selection last year, will anchor the team. Tanaporn Thongsing and senior Whitley Quan also will look to contribute. Thongsing won the top singles flight at the MVC Individual Championships in the fall and owns a career .810 winning percentage. Freshmen Ting-Ya Hsu and Marija Mastilovic saw plenty of action in the fall to season them for the spring. The team added newcomers Marta Bellucco and Fatima Bizhukova in January.

Last year's team reached as high as No. 13 in the national rankings on their way to a record-tying 27 dual wins and a spotless record in Valley play. In fact, the Shockers are a pristine 68-0 overall in Valley play under the guidance of Foster. The team lost to No. 37 TCU 4-3 in the first round of the NCAA tournament to end the season.

On the men's side, the Shockers look to defend last year's Valley titles as well. The team opens up spring play on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 6 p.m. with a dual at Tulsa in the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The Golden Hurricane received votes in the rankings. The Shockers will then come home for a matchup against former Valley rival Creighton on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m. at  Crestview Country Club.

First-year head coach Danny Bryan inherits four all-conference selections from last year's team. Senior Jocelyn Devilliers, who was last year's Elite 18 winner, junior Miroslav Herzan, and sophomores Eddie Stoica and Haru Inoue all return for the Shockers. Inoue and Herzan were ranked No. 36 in ITA's doubles rankings to start the 2016-17 season, but went 4-4 in the fall to drop out of the rankings. Senior Vitor Mendes, sophomore Austin Williams and freshman Connor Devlin will help to fill out the team. Additionally, the team added sophomores Andrea Caligiana and Marius Frosa and freshmen Jan Poboril and Murkel Velasco in January.

Last year, WSU went 17-11, but were 15-2 in home duals as the team won its second-ever regular season Valley title. The Shockers edged Drake in the conference Championship tournament 4-3 to win that championship as well. It was the 24th time WSU has won the tourney's team title, the most in Valley history. The Shockers lost to No. 19 Arkansas 4-2 to conclude their season.

Bryan will look to bring over his success from Baton Rouge to Wichita. In eight seasons on the LSU staff, Bryan – the 2013 Southern Region Assistant Coach of the Year -- worked with 10 ITA All-Americans, 14 All-SEC performers, and one SEC Player of the Year. The Tigers won at least one NCAA Tournament dual in six of his seasons and posted four top-30 finishes. In addition, his student-athletes performed well in the classroom, with 13 earning Academic All-America status and two earning post-graduate scholarships.