WICHITA, Kan.  – The Wichita State women's tennis team kicks off the 2019 home slate with a showdown against No. 11 Kansas, Friday (3:30 p.m) at the Wichita Country Club.
 
LAST TIME OUT
WSU split a pair of neutral matches last weekend at the ITA Kick-Off, on the campus of the University of Texas. The Shockers fell to Baylor, 4-1, in the opening round after clinching the doubles point over the Bears. Sandra Honigova and Marta Bellucco won a tiebreaker against Middle Tennessee State on court two to clinch the doubles point, on their way to a 4-1 victory over the Raiders in consolation action.
 
SHOCKER START
Junior Ting-Ya Hsu, who didn't compete in a singles dual match a season ago, is off to a 1-0 start competing in the sixth flight. Sophomore Alexandra Lazarova, a native of Roznava, Slovakia, is 1-1 and junior newcomer Esther Thebault is 1-1.
 
Bellucco and Honigova are 2-0 in doubles action in the second slot, while Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva and Thebault are 1-1. Hsu and Lazarova are 1-0 competing on court three.
 
SCOUTING KANSAS
The Jayhawks, who moved up five spots to No. 11 in latest ITA/Oracle Team Rankings, begin the season with a 2-1 record, with wins over Northwestern (5-2) and Illinois (4-1). Their lone loss came to No. 10 Oklahoma State (4-3) at ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Stillwater, Okla.
 
Three Kansas players are ranked in the ITA/Oracle Singles Rankings, with two doubles duos inside the top-30. Janet Koch (No. 34) is 1-2 in the No. 2 slot in dual action, while Nina Khmelnitckaia (No. 70), and Anastasia Rychagova (No. 109) are 2-1 and 2-0, respectively.    
 
Nina Khmelnitckaia and Janet Koch, who are ranked the fifth best doubles tandem, are off to a 1-0 start in the top flight, while Anastasia Rychagova and Sonia Smagina (No. 27) are 3-0 in the two spot.
 
Series History
Last Meeting: March 2, 2018 (No. 20 KU 4, WSU 3, in Lawrence)
Kansas leads 18-11
Head Coach Colin Foster vs. Kansas– 3-2
Home: 6-8
Away: 4-8
Neutral: 1-2
 
MILESTONE WATCH
The 2018-19 season marks Colin Foster's 10th as head women's tennis coach at Wichita State. Foster has compiled an impressive 175-71 record in his 10th season, and his .710 career winning percentage is the second highest in program history. With four more wins, Foster will be the jump to the top of the record books for most wins in women's tennis program history. Les Stafford (178-143, 16 seasons) sets atop the record books with Foster closing in.  
 
Foster has coached 45 all-conference selections, 26 individual conference titles (20 singles and six doubles), 37 MVC Player of the Week awarads and 19 MVC Scholar-Athletes. A Purdue graduate and three-year assistant at TCU, Foster earned MVC Coach of the Year honors five times, with four players named MVC Freshman of the Year.
 
FOLLOW LIVE
Live Stats will be available for WSU's match against No. 11 Kansas. http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=246646
 
Follow @goshockerswten on Twitter and Instagram for updates throughout the match, and on Facebook – Wichita State Women's Tennis.