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WICHITA, Kan. -- The Wichita State women's tennis team will head to Stillwater, Okla. for the First and Second Rounds of the 2017 NCAA DI Women's Tennis Championship. WSU will face No. 19-ranked Arkansas in the opening round on Sat., May 13 at 9 a.m. at the Greenwood Tennis Center. This will be Wichita State's ninth-straight trip to the tournament. Host school and No. 9 overall seed Oklahoma State (22-5, 8-1 Big 12) will play UMKC (13-9, 4-1 WAC) at noon on Saturday. The winners of Saturday's matches will face each other at 1 p.m. in the Second Round on Sunday, with the Regional winner advancing to the Round of 32 in Athens, Ga.
The Shockers (18-8, 7-0 MVC) earned the automatic bid by winning their ninth consecutive Missouri Valley Conference championship, and enter Stillwater having won 13 of their last 14 duals, which includes five consecutive shutouts. WSU was previously ranked No. 48, but fell from the Oracle/ITA ranks this week. The Shockers feature two MVC Player of the Year winners in
Giulia Guidetti (2017) and
Gabriela Porubin (2016), and head coach
Colin Foster earned his fourth-straight Coach of the Year award this year. WSU swept all six All-MVC honors in singles for the second year in a row, as Guidetti (#1 flight),
Tanaporn Thongsing (#2), Porubin (#3),
Fatima Bizhukova (#4),
Ting-Ya Hsu (#5) and
Marta Bellucco (#6) took home the honors. Bihukova/Porubin (#1) and Guidetti/Bellucco (#3) earned all-conference honors in doubles as well.
Arkansas (17-9, 7-6) is currently ranked No. 19 in the Oracle/ITA national rankings. The Razorbacks are in the NCAA field for the ninth time in the last 12 years, and for the 15th time overall. Arkansas comes battle-tested, having played its last 15 duals against nationally-ranked teams. Such is life in the rugged SEC, which boasts 11 of the nation's top-24 women's tennis programs. A trio of Razorbacks carry national singles rankings: Shannon Hudson (No. 45), Ana Oparenovic (No. 64) and Léolia Jeanjean (No. 111).
Series History: Wichita State and Arkansas meet for the second time this year. Arkansas won 4-0 on Feb. 20 in Fayetteville. The Shockers played on short rest, just two hours removed from a competitive match against Cornell. WSU is 1-21 all-time against Arkansas. The lone victory came two seasons ago in Fayetteville when No. 55 WSU defeated No. 54 Arkansas, 4-3.
Gabriela Porubin is the only current Shocker who participated in that dual. Her win at No. 2 doubles helped WSU secure the doubles point to begin the match. Two current Razorbacks participated, with Shannon Hudson defeating Porubin in straight sets at No. 3 singles. Sasha Shkorupeieva earned a point at No. 5 singles for Arkansas with a win over Lucia Kovalova.The series dates to 1980. Between 1996 and 2013, the teams met just two times. However, Saturday will mark their sixth match in the last four seasons. Three of those duals came down to 4-3 decisions.
Wichita State in the NCAA Tournament: Wichita State is making its ninth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance, and 11th overall.
• The Shockers are 1-10 in 10 previous trips with their only victory coming over South Carolina in the 2007 tournament.
• Eight of the Shockers' 11 NCAA Tournament duals have come against top-20 opponents.
• Last year's first round foe (No. 37 TCU) was the lowest-ranked opponent that the Shockers have faced in an NCAA dual.
• Broken down by conferences, WSU has faced at least one school from each of the "Power-Five" leagues in the Tournament, including three from the Big 12 (Oklahoma, TCU, Texas), three from the ACC (Clemson, Georgia Tech, Miami), one-each from the Pac-12 (Stanford), SEC (South Carolina) and Big Ten (Nebraska). The Shockers have also faced a West Coast Conference opponent in Pepperdine.
• WSU went 2-4 against the 2017 NCAA Tournament field during the regular season, defeating Tulsa and UMKC, while losing to TCU, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas Tech.
Porubin and Guidetti Return to NCAA's: Juniors
Gabriela Porubin and
Giulia Guidetti are the only Shockers with previous NCAA Tournament experience. Porubin is 0-2 in singles play but sports a 2-0 doubles record, while Guidetti is 1-0 in both singles and doubles.
Shockers in Stillwater: Wichita State returns to Stillwater for the second time this year. In late January, the Shockers split two ITA Kickoff Weekend matches against TCU (L, 0-4) and Cornell (W, 4-1) but did not face the host Cowgirls.
• The Shockers are 6-23 all-time in Stillwater. That includes an 0-14 mark against OSU and a 6-9 record against neutral competition.
• Now in its fourth season, the 50,000-square foot Greenwood Tennis is regarded as one of the nation's top collegiate tennis facilities, with six indoor and 12 outdoor courts.
WSU is 2-3 at Greenwood. Though they're winless against OSU (0-2), the Shockers have enjoyed success against neutral foes, winning 2-of-3 matches.
WSU played at OSU during Greenwood's inaugural season and returned twice last year, falling 6-1 to OSU on Jan. 30, 2016 and later defeating No. 33 Washington, 4-2, on Feb. 21, 2016.
89-and-Out: Wichita State won its ninth-straight Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles this season, a conference record for any women's sport in Valley history.
• WSU has dominated MVC play over the last nine years. Since falling in the 2008 MVC Championship, the Shockers have won 89 consecutive duals against conference foes. They dropped just one singles match in 10 duals against Valley schools this season, outscoring foes 57-2.
• MVC women's sports trace their roots to the old Gateway Conference. WSU was a charter member in 1982. In 35 seasons, the Shockers won more conference women's tennis crowns (18) than the rest of the league combined (17).
• WSU's new home in 2017-18, the American Athletic Conference, has earned multiple NCAA Tournament bids in three of its four seasons of existence. In 2017, Tulsa (at-large) and South Florida (auto) will carry The American banner.
A Shocker Win Would...
… move WSU into Sunday's Second Round for a 1 p.m. CT match against either No. 9 Oklahoma State or UMKC.
… improve their season record to 19-8.
… give the Shockers their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2006 and improve their all-time mark to 2-10.
… be just the second win over a top-20 foe in school history.
… be just their second win all-time in 23 tries against Arkansas
