WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State women's tennis team heads north to Lincoln for a three-match tilt, Feb. 16-17, at the Dillon Tennis Center.
 
The Shockers (2-4) will take on Louisville (9-0), Creighton (2-3) and host Nebraska (5-5) in a span of two days.

Schedule
Saturday, Feb. 16
WSU vs. Louisville - 2 p.m.  WATCH

Sunday, Feb. 17
WSU vs. Nebraska - 1 p.m.  LIVE STATS/WATCH
WSU vs. Creighton - 5 p.m  WATCH

Shocker Summary
Wichita State is 2-4 to start the 2019 campaign, with wins over Middle Tennessee State (4-1) and UT-Arlington (5-1). Baylor, No. 11 Kansas, Missouri and Houston are among the four losses for the Shockers. Junior Ting-Ya Hsu leads the Shockers with a 2-1 singles dual record. Senior Sandra Honigova has record two-straight wins in the top flight, and newcomer Esther Thebault is 2-3 in the two slot. Bellucco and Honigova lead the way in doubles play, with a 3-1 record on court two. Hsu and LingWei Kong are 2-1 in the third position.
 
Last Time Out
WSU ended a three-match losing streak last Sunday, where they took down UT-Arlington (5-1) at the Shady Oaks Country Clubs in Westworth Village, Texas. The Shockers grabbed wins on courts one and three in doubles play to clinch the doubles point, improving their record to 8-5 in doubles play on the season. Honigova and Thebault (1^st and 2^nd flight) joined Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva and Hsu (4^th and 5^th flight) with wins in singles play.
 
ON THE CARDINALS
Louisville is off to a blazing start to begin the dual season, compiling a perfect 9-0 record to start the season. Their wins include sweeps over Northern Kentucky and Charleston Southern, and victories over Bowling Green, Miami (OH), Ball State, Cincinnati and Furman.
 
The Shockers and Cardinals have met twice, with each holding a victory. The two met last on March 27, 2009, with the Shockers coming away with a 4-0 win in Wichita.
 
CARDINALS IN THE RANKINGS
Nikolina Jovic is the lone Cardinal in the ITA/Oracle Singles Rankings, coming in at No. 114. The sophomore is 6-0, mainly in the third flight. Diana Wong and Aleksandra Mally are 4-0 in doubles, while Sena Suswan and Raven Neely sport a 5-1 record in the top flight.
 
ON THE CORNHUSKERS
Winners of two-straight, Nebraska comes into the weekend with a 5-5 record. Their wins came against Creighton (6-1), UMKC (4-0), South Dakota (4-0), Wyoming (5-0) and Drake (4-0).  Kansas State, Old Dominion, Gonzaga, No. 11 Kansas and Air Force are their losses.
 
Claire Reifeis is 6-1 to start the season, in flights one and two. Reifeis and Jessica Aragon are 3-1 in doubles play for Nebraska.
 
Nebraska leads the all-time series, 21-16. The two met last February, where the Cornhuskers came away with a 4-3 thriller in Lincoln. Head Coach Colin Foster is 3-6 against Nebraska.
 
ON THE BLUEJAYS
Creighton is coming off a 6-1 win over Western Illinois on Feb. 9, improving its record to 2-3 on the season. The Bluejays also knocked off Drake (4-3). Their three losses came to Nebraska, Air Force and Missouri State.
 
Four Bluejays are 2-3 in singles dual action, with Erin Epperson leading the charge with a 3-2 record. Gabby O'Connor and Michaela Henne are 2-1 in the second slot of doubles.
 
WSU leads the all-time series, 27-2. Foster is 6-0 against the Bluejays, with the teams last meeting on Jan. 30, 2015 in Wichita (WSU 5, Creighton 0).

RETURNERS
WSU returns six players from last season's team, who reached the Second Round of the NCAA Team Championships. Sandra Honigova, who went 16-5 in dual play last season, leads the charge for WSU. The senior competed mostly in flights two and three last season. Fatima Bizhukova, was 12-8 in the top flight, with five wins over ranked opponents. The junior knocked off the No. 3 and 5 singles players during the season. Bellucco was 9-11, Lazarova 4-4 and Saidhujaeva 7-11. In doubles, Bizhukova and Bellucco, who ranked as high as No. 64, were 10-4 in the top flight. The duo had four ranked wins, including a win over the No. 5 and 8 ranked doubles duo at the NCAA Team Championships.
 
NEW FACES
The Shockers welcomed two newcomers to the 2019 squad. Sophomore LingWei Kong comes to WSU from GuangZhou, China, and is 0-4 in her first collegiate matches this spring (3^rd and 4^th flight). Kong is 2-1 with Ting-Ya Hsu in doubles in flight three. Esther Thebault, a native of Rennes, France, joins the Shockers for the spring season and is 2-3 in dual matches in the second flight.
 
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 176-75 record while at the helm. With three 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 claimed eight MVC Regular Season Titles, eight MVC Tournament Titles and has reached the NCAA Tournament every year he has been here.
 
Along with coaching 45 all-conference selections, 26 individual conference champions (20 singles and six doubles), 37 MVC Player of the Week winners and 19 MVC Scholar-Athletes, Foster compiled a perfect 78-0 conference record in the MVC. A Purdue graduate and three-year assistant at TCU, Foster earned MVC Coach of the Year honors five times, and four players were named MVC Freshman of the Year under his guidance.

Bizhukova and Bellucco Make History
Bizhukova and Bellucco completed many historic feats this fall, going down as one of the most succesful falls in recent history at Wichita State.  The duo began the season No. 14 in the ITA/Oracle Preseason Fall Rankings, the highest ranking for a Shocker duo since 1999-00.  Bizhukova and Bellucco, from Russia and Italy respectively, compiled wins over three top-30 opponents on their way to the semifinals of the ITA Riviera All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Knocked off No. 19 Sophie Whittle/Graciela Rosas of Gonzaga (8-4), No. 5 Emma Davis and Chandler Carter of Wake Forest (8-5) and USC's Angela Kuliokov/Rianna Valdes (No. 27), 8-5.
 
The Shocker tandem became the first Shocker duo in the history of women's tennis to reach the semifinals of the ITA Riviera All-American Championships. Also defeated No. 60 Elisa Koonik and Tessa van Der Ploeg of Wyoming (6-1) and reached the consolation quarterfinals of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships in Surprise, Ariz., becoming the first duo to compete in the prestigious event.
 
- Named American Athletic Conference Players of the Month in October-