WICHITA, Kan. – No. 36 Wichita State will travel to Dallas, Texas to compete in its inaugural American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship, April 18-21 on the campus of SMU.
The Shockers will be the three-seed for the Championship and face the winner of #6 Houston/#11 UConn.
MATCH INFORMATION VS #6 HOUSTON/ #11 UCONN
Thursday, April 19 – 3 p.m.
Crum Tennis Courts –SMU
Tournament Central
CHAMPIONSHIP TIDBITS
-Wichita State will play in its first ever American Athletic Conference Championship. The Shockers are coming off of nine-straight Missouri Valley Conference regular season and conference titles.
- 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 (23-0).
"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 Championship…. 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. "
SHOCKERS AGAINST THE FIELD
UCF –UCF leads 2-0, last meeting April 15, 2018-UCF won 4-1 in Wichita.
South Florida – USF leads 4-0, last meeting March 13, 1989, USF won 9-0 in Tampa.
Cincinnati- No meeting
Houston- No meeting
UConn- No meeting
Memphis- WSU leads 2-0. Last meeting Feb. 24, 1984- WSU won 5-4 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Tulane- WSU leads 2-0. Last meeting March 26, 2011. WSU won 5-2 in Houston, Texas
East Carolina- No meeting
Temple- No meeting
SMU- WSU leads 5-2. Last meeting Jan. 20, 2018. WSU won 5-2 in Dallas, Texas
Tulsa- Tulsa leads 24-14. Last meeting March 17, 2018- Tulsa won 7-0 in Tulsa.
SHOCKER SUMMARY
Wichita State finished the regular season 16-7, with losses to No. 8 Texas Tech (4-0), NC State (4-3) Nebraska (4-3), No. 20 Kansas (4-3) No. 32 Tulsa (7-0), No. 13 Oklahoma State (4-0), and No. 19 UCF (4-1). 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) , Gonzaga (4-3), Hawaii (6-1), North Texas (4-2), Iowa (5-2), No. 44 Oklahoma (5-2) and No. 36 Kansas State. The Shockers are led by sophomore
Fatima Bizhukova (11-5) and junior
Sandra Honigova (15-3). Sophomore
Marta Bellucco is 8-9, and senior
Gabriela Porubin is 10-7 in dual action in both third and fourth flights. Senior
Giulia Guidetti, is 14-6 in singles, and 11-6 in doubles action with sophomore
Ting-Ya Hsu. The Shockers are 71-43 (.623) collectively in singles play.
SCOUTING HOUSTON
Houston comes into the Championship with an impressive 19-3 record, and finished its home slate undefeated (14-0). The Cougars singles wins total 81, as well as a 39-10 doubles combined record. Tsetva Dimitrova leads the Cougars with a team leading 27 overall singles wins, and a 17-4 dual record, mainly in flight one. Dimitrova ranks No. 116 in the latest ITA/Oracle Singles Rankings (April 17). Sveva Mazzari is 18-1 in dual action, primarily in the second flights. Lauren Alter has won six-straight matches, with a 14-1 record all in the third flight. Alter and Alison Mills have collected 13 wins in doubles play, along with Dimitrova and Mazzari, who are 13-2.
The Cougars were the nine-seed at the Championship a season ago, falling to eight-seed UCF in the first round.
SCOUTING UCONN
UConn takes the 11-seed, with a 10-10 overall record. For the Huskies, Yelyzaveta Pletnyeva comes in with a team-leading 25 singles wins, along with a 15-5 record all in flight one. Jacqueline Lazaro is 11-8, and Cassie Chung 10-9. Pietnyeva and Fitz-Randolph haven't lost on the season, coming in with a 10-0 record in flight one. Summer Walker and Zaina Zaki are 8-6 for the Huskies.
UConn lost to No. 6 seed ECU last season at the Championship, as an 11-seed.
LAST TIME OUT
The Shockers split two matches last weekend with No. 36 Kansas State and No. 19 UCF. The Shockers dropped Kansas State, 4-1, on April 13 in Wichita. The Shocks claimed the doubles point on courts one and two. In singles, Bizhukova cruised over Decker on court one, (6-1, 6-1). After a win by Kansas State on court four, the Shockers rallied to win two-straight to claim the match. Guidetti took down Carolina Costamagna , 6-0, 6-3, and
Gabriela Porubin won 7-5, 6-4 in flight five. On April 15, the Shockers closed out the regular season with American opponent, UCF, who came into the match ranked 19th. On paper, the Knights won 4-1, but it was much closer than that. Five of the six singles matches went to three sets, with courts one and two tied at six in the third set. Wichita State's lone victory came from senior Porubin on senior day, taking down Monica Matias (0-6, 6-3, 6-3) in flight four.
MOVING ON UP
Seniors
Giulia Guidetti and
Gabriela Porubin continue to move up in the Wichita State record books. Guidetti comes in 12th all-time in combined doubles and singles wins with 163. Porubin, who has 190 combined wins, is fifth on the all-time list. On the singles all-time list, Guidetti sets at 93 wins, good for sixth in the record books. Sandy Sadler is first with 112. With 91 wins, Porubin comes in at sixth Porubin is currently fourth all-time with 99 career doubles wins. Guidetti has compiled 70 doubles wins for the Shockers. Guidetti holds the record for singles wins in a two-year span with 63, from 2015-17 and most wins in a season, where she went 39-5 in 2015-16.
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.
- Ninth-year head coach is second in the record books for career wins, with 172. Les Stafford, who coached the Shockers from 1990-2004, sets atop the list with 178.
POWER SCHEDULE
In the April 17 ITA/Oracle Team Rankings, 11 of the 23 opponents the Shockers have faced this season are in the top-50. Wichita State has a 4-7 record against the 11, with wins over FIU (now No. 37), (RV) ,Old Dominion (now No. 47), No. 44 Oklahoma (now No. 50), and No. 36 Kansas State. (now No. 38). Their six losses were against No. 8 Texas Tech, North Carolina State (now No. 33), Nebraska (now No. 46), Kansas, (now No. 16), Tulsa (now No. 26), No. 13 Oklahoma State, and No. 19 UCF. Mizzou was ranked No. 49 when the Shockers beat them, before dropping out of the top-50. Wichita State's two remaining opponents rank in the top-40. Kansas State comes in at No. 36, while UCF is No. 19.
YET AGAIN
The Shockers make an appearance in ITA National Team Rankings for the 12th-straight season, and eighth-straight week.
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 March 2016 when they reached No. 20.
March 6 Poll- No. 23- Wichita State comes in at No. 23, sporting an 11-4 record.
March 13 Poll- No. 27- came into the week with a 13-4 record and winners of two-straight
March 20 Poll- No. 33- The Shockers make the poll for the fifth-straight week with a 13-5 record
March 27 Poll- No. 35- Wichita State has won four of its last five matches, including a 5-2 win over Iowa March 23
April 3 Poll- No. 36- The Shockers split a pair of road matches in Oklahoma. WSU lost to No. 13 Oklahoma State 4-0, and took down No. 44 Oklahoma 5-2.
April 10 Poll- No. 34- Wichita State made the polls for the eighth-straight week, moving up two spots to No. 34.
April 17 Poll – No. 34- After splitting a pair of matches with No. 36 Kansas State (4-1win), and No. 19 UCF ( 4-1 loss), the Shockers stay put at No. 34.
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 and most recently for the week ending Mar. 11. 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)
SOPHOMORE SHINE
Shocker sophomore
Fatima Bizhukova ranks 60th in the latest ITA/Oracle Singles Rankings released April 17. Bizhukova is 16-9 on the season, and 11-5 in dual action. She has four wins over ranked opponents, including a win over No. 43 Maria Kononova of North Texas and No. 28 ranked Lily Miyazaki of Oklahoma. The singles rankings come out every two weeks, with Bizhukova drawing a ranking in every poll. Bizhukova was ranked 55th in the April 3 poll, No. 84 in the March 6 poll, 71
st in Feb. 20 poll, and 73rd in Feb. 7 poll.
SHOCKER DUO
Sophomores
Marta Bellucco and
Fatima Bizhukova broke the top-75 in the most recent ITA/Oracle Doubles Rankings (April 17), coming in at No. 67. The duo has two wins over top-50 opponents, and enter the weekend with a 7-4 record, all in flight one..
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 on 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.
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 7-9 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 4-4 in dual matches all in the sixth flight.
