WICHITA, Kan - The Wichita State men's tennis team continues its eight-match road trip with a trip to Houston for the 59th Texas Tamale Company Rice Invitational on March 24-25. The Shockers will face Rice, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and VCU.
 
TEXAS TAMALE COMPANY RICE INVITATIONAL
Schedule
Action opens at 9 a.m. Saturday when the Shockers face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Wichita State returns to the court to take on host Rice at 4 p.m. at the George R. Brown Tennis Center. WSU will face VCU at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
 
Rice has won the invite 17 times in the last 21 years, including 10-straight from 2008-17.
 
The event began in 1949 and originally crowned both a team and singles champion before moving to solely a team event in 1989. Rice's Art Foust, who had teamed with Ronnie Fisher to win the SWC Doubles title in 1958 and would do so again in 1959, upset the top-seeded Fisher to claim the inaugural Rice Invite singles crown.
 
Tournament Central
For information on the tournament, including Live Stats/Video, Team Information, Schedule and Rice Invitational History, CLICK HERE
 
WICHITA STATE AT THE RICE INVITATIONAL
This weekend will mark the seventh time the Shockers have participated in the Rice Invitational, and the first since 1997.
Record: 2-4
Teams Faced: Columbia, Mar. 22, 1997 (W, 5-2) Oklahoma, Mar. 19, 1989 (L, 5-1) Little Rock, Mar. 21, 1997 (L, 4-3) Baylor, Mar. 18, 1989 (W, 5-1) Indiana, Mar. 18. 1989 (L, 5-1) Rice, Mar. 23, 1997 (L, 4-2)
1989 Winner: Indiana
1997 Winner: Rice
 
THE FIELD
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M- CORPUS CHRISTI
The Islanders come into the match with a 14-4 record. They have wins over Prairie View (four times), Trinity (twice), UTSA, UTRGV (twice), ECU, Tennessee Tech, Louisiana, Troy and New Mexico State. Their four losses are to UTSA, South Alabama, and Texas and Wichita State. The two teams met on March 21 in San Antonio, where Wichita State won 4-3 at the UTSA Tennis Center.

HISTORY WITH THE ISLANDERS
The match between the Islanders and the Shockers will be the sixth in school history. Wichita State leads the series 3-2.
 
SCOUTING RICE
Rice comes into the match with a 6-11 record. The Owls have taken down Prairie View, Lamar, LSU, Boise State, Abilene Christian and San Diego State. UTRGV, Lousiana-Lafayette, Minnesota, Dartmouth, Alabama, Princeton, Middle Tennessee State, Texas Tech and Texas are among their losses. Eric Rutledge and Conrad Russell lead the Owls, with 8-3 and 8-4 records, respectively. Rutledge and Sumit Sarkar lead the charge for the Owls in doubles with a 4-2 record.

HISTORY WITH RICE
The Shockers and Owls have met just twice, both in 1997. Rice leads the series 2-0.

LAST MEETING WITH RICE
Rice defeated Wichita State 4-3 on Mar. 9, 1997 in San Diego, Calif. at the USD/Reebok Collegiate Tennis Classic Quarterfinals. The Owls and Shockers met two weeks later on Mar. 23, 1997 at the Rice Invitational where the Owls won 4-2.
 
SCOUTING VCU
VCU sports a 8-5 record for the 2018 season, and 3-0 in conference action. The Rams have wins over Georgetown, Drexel, Campbell, Dayton, Penn, East Tennessee State, George Washington,  and Saint Louis. Their losses came from Louisiana, N.C. State, Penn State, Utah, and Elon. VCU began the season winners of six-straight, before losing five of their last seven. Inigo Torre Martin has paced the Rams this season, coming in with a 9-2 dual match record. Arvid Noren is 7-3, while Javier Amantegui is 7-5 on the season. Amantegui and Noren lead VCU with a 7-3 record in doubles action.

HISTORY WITH VCU
Wichita State and VCU will meet for the first time in program history on Sunday.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Shockers went 2-0 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTSA on Wednesday and Thursday, Mar. 21-22. WSU came from behind to take down the Islanders 4-3, in a match that seen freshman Andrea Trapani earn his first win as a Shocker. Wichita State dominated UTSA on Thursday, sweeping the Roadrunners 4-0 improving its overall record to 9-8.
 
SHOCKER SUMMARY
Wichita state is 9-8 to start the 2018 season under second-year head coach Danny Bryan. After starting the season 1-5, the Shockers have reeled off eight of their last 11. The Shockers have wins against Buffalo (5-2), which came in their season opener on the road and over UMKC (7-0), Tulsa (4-3), San Francisco (4-0), No. 46 New Mexico (4-1), Grand Canyon (4-2) ,Nebraska (4-1), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (4-3), and UTSA (4-0). Cornell (6-1), Utah (5-2), Auburn (4-3), Arkansas (4-3) Middle Tennessee State (5-2), No. 15 Oklahoma (4-1), New Mexico (4-3) and No. 22 Dartmouth (4-3) are among the Shocker losses.
 
LEADING THE WAY
Freshman Andrea Caligiana has paced the Shockers this season, compiling a 7-5 record in flights five and six. Caligiana and Miroslav Herzan are 9-5 in doubles matches, (3-0) in third flight. Sophomore Murkel Dellien became the first Shocker to reach 10 wins, compiling a 10-5 record. Herzan is 9-6, and has competed in flights three, four, five and six and is 6-5 in the fourth flight, while Dellien is 8-5 in flight three. Juniors Eddie Stoica and Haru Inoue are 7-7, and Marius Frosa is 6-9 for the Shockers. Dellien and Frosa, who were previously ranked No. 76, are 8-4 in doubles.
 
FIRST WIN = CLUTCH
Freshman Andrea Trapani, who joined Wichita State in January, recorded his first collegiate victory as a Shocker on Mar. 21 when he took down Kyohei Yamanaka 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The Shockers and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi were tied at three; when Trapani served up a clutch win in a winner take all match in the sixth flight. Trapani collected his second-straight victory on Mar. 22, taking down Patrick Poestinger of UTSA in dominant fashion, 6-0, 6-1.

BACK-TO-BACK
The Shockers won three matches on Mar. 3-4 to repeat as Mountain Pacific Tournament Champions in Albuquerque, N.M. Wichita State dropped San Francisco (4-0), No. 46 New Mexico (4-1) and Grand Canyon (4-2). Against San Francisco, the Shockers pulled off victories flights three through six to clinch the match, while the first two flights went unfinished. Haru Inoue led the charge against New Mexico, knocking off his first ranked opponent of the season, along with wins by Dellien, Herzan, and Stoica. In the championship, Grand Canyon tested the Shockers before WSU pulled out the victory and the second-straight tournament championship.
 
THAT'S HISTORY
At the Mountain Pacific Tournament on Mar. 3-4, the Shockers met up with Grand Canyon University and San Francisco for the first time in school history. Wichita State faced New Mexico for the 11th time, and the first since 2009 when the Lobos defeated Wichita State 6-1 in Albuquerque. The win marks the first over New Mexico since Apr. 2, 1989, with WSU winning 6-3 in Wichita.
 
The Shockers and Golden Hurricane met on the court for the 37th time in school history on Feb. 19 where WSU knocked off Tulsa (4-3) for the first time since Nov. 4, 1994, and the first in the last 14 tries.  Besides former Missouri Valley opponents Drake (16-27), Illinois State (30-10), Southern Illinois (36-9), the Tulsa-WSU Series is the largest with 37 combined matches. The Shockers hold a 21-16 lead over the Golden Hurricane.
 
Wichita State fell to No. 22 Dartmouth 4-3 on Mar. 18 at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex in Wichita. The match marks just the third time the two school have faced each other, and the first time since Mar. 24, 1990. Dartmouth has the advantage, 2-1, with a 5-3 win in 1990, 4-3 on Mar. 18 of this season. The lone win for WSU came on Mar. 27, 1988 when the Shockers took down the Big Green 5-2 in Irvine, Calif.
 
CAPTAINS
Head coach Danny Bryan announced the captains for the 2018 season. The captains include Senior Miroslav Herzan and juniors Haru Inoue and Eddie Stoica.
 
FALL BALL
Frosa, from Romania, led the Shockers in the fall season. Frosa went 8-4 in the fall in singles action, including a run to the main draw of the ITA All-Americans, knocking off No. 83 Felix Corwin of Minnesota along the way. The junior was one win away from making the final four of the ITA Central Regional. Inoue, who ranked No. 58 in Fall Rankings, went 10-4 in singles competing in three Futures events. He advanced to the main draw in two of the three events. In doubles, junior Andrea Caligiana and Herzan went 5-2, including a semifinal berth at the ITA Central Regional. Stoica and Frosa went 3-1, including an upset over No. 25 Hammond/Cash of Oklahoma State.
 
UP NEXT:
Following the Rice Invitational, Wichita State will travel to Denver, Colo. to take on Denver University. The match is scheduled for Mar. 30 at 1 p.m. at the Stapleton Tennis Pavilion.