WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State women's tennis team travels to Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Wahine tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. CT for just the second time in school history, and the first since 1989.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Shockers split a pair of matches last Friday and Saturday with No. 20 Kansas and Gonzaga in Lawrence, respectively. On Friday, the Shockers and Jayhawks met up for the 29th time, with KU winning a thriller (4-3) to move to 18-11 on the series. The Shockers grabbed the doubles point to take an early lead, with wins by Ting-Ya Hsu and Giulia Guidetti in flight two and Gabriela Porubin in the third flight. The Shockers top two, No. 71 Fatima Bizhukova and No. 106 Sandra Honigova dropped their matches to highly ranked opponents. Bizhukova fell in straight sets to No. 1 ranked Anastasia Rychagova, as did Honigova to No. 77 ranked Depsoina Vogasari. Porubin evened the match with a win over Maria Toran Ribes in the fifth flight (7-6, 6-2). After falling down 3-2 with a loss in the sixth flight, Guidetti rallied to win a three-set  match to set up Bellucco in the fourth flight. Khmelnitckaia and Bellucco battled it out, going to a third set tiebreaker. In a back-and-forth slugfest, Khmelnitckaia edged out Bellucco (12-10) to give Kansas the win On Saturday, the Shockers took down Gonzaga 4-3. Bizhukova and Bellucco knocked off No. 47 ranked Sophie Whittle and Graciela Rosas, and Tsu and Guidetti clinched a win in the second flight to win the doubles point. The Zags won two straight in the fourth and sixth flights, before the Shockers won two in a row to push the lead to 3-2. After Bizhukova fell in flight one, it was Honigova who pulled out a victory in the second flight to clinch the win for Wichita State.
 
POWER SCHEDULE
In the ITA/Oracle Team Rankings that came out Mar. 6, seven of the 15 opponents the Shockers have faced this season are in the top-50. Wichita State has a 3-4 record against the six, with wins over FIU (now No. 43), (RV) Arkansas (now No. 32), and Old Dominion (now No. 39). The three losses were against No. 8 Texas Tech, North Carolina State (now No. 39), and Nebraska (now No. 29). Mizzou was ranked No. 49 when the Shockers beat them, before dropping out of the top-50. The remaining schedule for the Shockers fares to be a good one. Out of the 10 remaining opponents on the schedule, five are ranked in the top-50. (Oklahoma State (20, Kansas State (31), UCF (25), Tulsa (26))
 
ON HAWAII
The Rainbow Wahine are off to a 4-2 start to the 2017-18 season. They have wins over San Diego, Long Beach State, Grand Canyon, and San Diego State. Their losses came from UC Davis and Washington. Petra Melounova leads Hawaii with a 4-1 record in the first flight. Melounova and Roxanne Resma are 4-0 in doubles action, all in the second flight. Jun Hernandez is in his 12th season as head coach of Hawaii and ranks second in wins in school history.
 
 FUN BITS
 - The last time WSU took down a top-20 opponent was on Mar. 5, 2016. The Shockers, then ranked No.  13, rolled over No. 18 Tulsa, 5-2 in Tulsa.
 - The Shockers and Rainbow Wahine have met just once before, on Mar. 4 1989 where Hawaii came away victorious 6-0 in Las Vegas at the UNLV duals.
 
YET AGAIN
The Shockers make an appearance in ITA National Team Rankings for the 12th-straight season.
Feb. 20 Poll- No. 30- The Shockers were last ranked inside the top-30 for 11-straight weeks in the 2015-16 season. Prior to that, the Shockers were only ranked four times inside the top-30 since the 2006-07 season.
Feb. 27 Poll- No. 21- it is the first time the Shockers have been inside the top-25 since Mar. 2016 when they reached No. 20.
Mar. 6 Poll- No. 23- Wichita State comes in at No. 23, sporting an 11-4 record.
 
SHOCKER SUMMARY
Wichita State is 11-4 to start the 2018 campaign, with losses to No. 8 Texas Tech (4-0), NC State (4-3) Nebraska (4-3), and No. 20 Kansas (4-3). The Shockers have picked up victories over Stephen F. Austin (7-0), SMU (5-2), FIU (4-2), UT-Arlington (4-0), UMKC (4-0), (RV)Arkansas (4-1) , Old Dominion (4-2) Wyoming (4-0), No. 49 Mizzou(4-3), Colorado (7-0) and Gonzaga (4-3). The Shockers are led by sophomore Fatima Bizhukova (6-3) and junior Sandra Honigova (11-2). Sophomore Marta Bellucco is 6-3 in the fifth flight, and senior Gabriela Porubin is 8-4 in dual action in both third and fourth flights. Senior Giulia Guidetti is 9-4 in singles. Guidetti and sophomore Ting-Ya Hsu are 9-0 in doubles action in the second and third flight.
 
AMERICAN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Wichita State's Fatima Bizhukova was named the American Conference Player of the Week for the week ending Jan. 28. The award was the first ever for the Shockers in the American conference (women's tennis).Sandra Honigova has been named American Conference Player of the Week twice this season. (Feb. 4., Feb. 26)
 
ONE TWO PUNCH
Two Shockers are ranked in the Mar. 6 ITA/Oracle Singles Rankings . Bizhukova, who is 6-3 in the first flight (13-8 overall) ranks No. 84 for the Shockers. Junior Sandra Honigova joins her at No. 102 after starting the season 11-2. Honigova has victories over No. 61 Claudia Wiktorin of NC State in Wichita State's home opener Feb. 2, No. 67 Ana Oparenovic Feb. 10 at Arkansas, and No. 109 Linda Huang of Colorado Feb. 25.
 
NEW CONFERENCE, SAME GOALS
The Shockers join the American Athletic Conference after a successful tenure in the Missouri Valley Conference. Conference opponents are played during the season, however; they do not count as conference games. The conference action begins at the SMU Tennis Complex, Apr. 18-21 at The American Championship in Dallas. Ninth-year head coach Colin Foster has the same goals in The American as he did in the Missouri Valley, where he never lost a conference match in eight seasons (78-0) including conference tournaments.
 
QUOTABLE
 Head Coach Colin Foster on move from Missouri Valley to American Athletic conference and playing in American Championship:
"Our goal is to win every match. That goal doesn't change from the Missouri Valley to the American. We know that the competition is tougher and the challenge is going to be bigger. That doesn't change our goals. If we would have lost a match in the Missouri Valley, then so be it. If we lose a match in the American Tournament….that's part of sports. We're certainly excited and confident that we can go in there and play with any team in this league. "
 
UPSET ALERT
Sophomore Fatima Bizhukova knocked off No. 3 Andrea Lazaro of FIU in straight sets (6-1, 6-2) leading the Shockers past FIU in the opening round of ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Lubbock , Jan. 26. The sophomore from Russia had No. 5 Gabriela Talaba of Texas Tech on the ropes the following day, leading 6-2, 5-2 before the match went unfinished.

FALL BALL
Bizhukova, who ranked No. 102 in Preseason Rankings, led all singles players in the fall, compiling a 7-5 record in tournament play.  Bizhukova had two top-100 victories to her name.  Bizhukova felt that she had areas to improve from her fall season,  "My fall season was not very good, I was thinking too much about the ranking. I was trying to win all my matches. But now, I feel that you have to win, but if you enjoy it you will win for sure."

Sophomore Marta Bellucco went 6-3 in the fall season, and and Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva finished 5-3.
In doubles, Senior Gabriela Porubin and Bizhukova, who ranked No. 16 in Fall Rankings, went 7-3 with wins over two top-50 tandems.
 
RETURNERS
Seniors Giulia Guidetti and Gabriela Porubin lead a group of five returners from a season ago.  The senior tandem is in the top-20 for singles wins in school history. (Guidetti, 79. Porubin, 77). Along with Bizhukova, sophomores Bellucco and Ting-Ya Hsu are among the returners. Junior Sandra Honigova returns to the court after sitting out last season. (transferred from FIU in 2015-16).
 
NEW FACES
The Shockers welcomed two newcomers to the 2017-18 squad. Sophomore Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva comes to WSU from Uzbekistan, where she began play for the Shockers in the fall. Saidhujaeva went 5-3 in fall play, and is 7-6 in dual play, with matches in third, fifth and sixth flight.  Freshman Alexandra Lazarova joined the Shockers in the fall, and compiled a 6-6 record in tournament action. Lazarova, from Slovakia, is 3-2 in dual matches all in the sixth flight.
 
NEXT STOP:
The Shockers are next in action with a trip to Rancho Mirage, Calif. for a neutral match between North Texas on Saturday, Mar. 10 at 12 p.m.