WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State men's tennis returns to action on Tuesday (March 12) for a 12 p.m. matchup with No. 50 Memphis at Genesis Health Club.
 
SHOCKER SUMMARY
Wichita State (6-7) is coming off a 4-2 loss at New Mexico on March 9.  The Shockers have two top-50 wins, No. 43 Drake (4-2) and No. 28 Dartmouth (4-2). WSU's other wins have come against Denver (5-2), UNC-Wilmington (4-0), Middle Tennessee State (4-3) and Tennessee State (7-0).Five of their seven losses have come against top-25 opponents - No. 13 Oklahoma (4-0), No. 3 Mississippi State (4-0), No. 20 Tennessee (5-2), No. 15 TCU, (6-0), and No. 25 Minnesota (7-0).
 
RANKED SHOCKERS
The Shockers broke the top-40 for the first time since 1982-83 in March 5^th's ITA/Oracle Team Rankings poll, coming in at No. 39. The Shockers entered the rankings on Feb. 26 at No. 44.
 
BIG WINS
WSU collected its first top-30 win since the 2012-13 season, when they knocked off No. 28 Dartmouth on Feb. 23 in Hanover, N.H. The win was the first over the Big Green since March 27, 1988. The Shockers followed with a 4-2 win over No. 43 Drake on March 1 (4-2), their first win over the Bulldogs since the 2015-16 season.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
The Tigers are 9-6 on the season, and have lost four of their last five. Coming in at No. 50 in last week's ITA/Oracle Team Rankings, the Tigers hold wins over Northwestern, Belmont, Jackson State (twice), Old Dominion, UAPB (twice), Michigan State, and Temple. Their losses came to Wake Forest, Dartmouth, Harvard, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Tigers reached the First Round of the NCAA Team Championships last season, sporting n 18-6 record.
 
Chris Patzanovsky (ITA, No. 123) leads the Tigers in the first flight, with a 9-1 dual record. Oscar Cutting is 9-1 in flights four, five and six. Jan Pallares and Patrick Sydow are 8-2 in doubles action, mainly in the second slot.
 
The two programs are 1-1 all-time against each other. Their last meeting was on March 5, 2004 where the Tigers won 4-0 at the HEB Invite in Corpus Christi, Texas. The last WSU win was on April 6, 1986 at the SIU Duals in Carbondale, Ill. (5-2).
 
ROAD TO THE TOP
Six opponents the Shockers have faced are in the top-50 of the ITA/Oracle Team Rankings (March 5). Mississippi State (10), TCU (11), Minnesota (16), Oklahoma (18), Tennessee (25), and Dartmouth (38).  

STRONG UP TOP
Senior Haru Inoue leads the Shockers in singles play, sporting a 6-3 record (2-2 1st, 4-1 2nd). Inoue Knocked off Scott Jones, who ranked No. 75 for Tennessee and No. 64 Tom Hands of Drake in clinching fashion on March 1. His only losses have come to Alex Rybakov of TCU, who ranked No. 8 in singles play, Stefan Milicevic of Minnesota, and New Mexico's Ricky Hernandez Tong. . Marius Frosa is 6-4 in the third slot for WSU. The junior clinched the match at Middle Tennessee with an impressive come-from-behind win on Feb. 4. Murkel Dellien is 4-7 in dual play, including a clinching straight set win over Dartmouth's Dan Martin in the number two slot. Five of his losses have come against ranked opponents.
 
DELLIEN NETS PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS
Wichita State men's tennis student-athlete Murkel Dellien was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week for Feb. 17-23.
 
Dellien – the first Shocker to take home the Player of the Week honors this season – knocked off Dan Martin of Dartmouth last Saturday to clinch the 4-2 thrilling victory over No. 28 Dartmouth. Dellien won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5 in the second flight for WSU. The win marks the first top-30 win for the Shockers since the 2012-13 season.

NEW FACES
The Shockers welcomed two freshmen to the 2019 squad. Freshman Stefan Latinovic comes to WSU from Belgrade, Serbia and won his first collegiate match on Feb. 4 against Tennessee State. A native of Petah Tikva, Israel, Orel Ovil joined WSU in the fall, and earned his first win as a Shocker at ITA Central Regionals, a three-set thriller over Nebraska-Omaha's Abdoul Ouattara.
 
DELLIEN'S REMARKABLE FALL RUN
Junior Murkel Dellien compiled a 6-2 record in the fall, including wins over two ranked opponents (No. 55 Josh Goodger, Tulsa and No. 32 Ferran Calvo of Oklahoma).  A native of Trinidad, Bolivia, Dellien reached the semifinal of the ITA Central Regional for the first time since Shocker All-American Phil Cooper in 1995.