WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State women's tennis team is set to travel to Kansas City, Mo. for a doubleheader with Drake and UMKC on March 30 at the Woodside Health and Tennis Club and Overland Park Racquet Club.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Shockers pulled off a 4-2 win over North Texas at Crestview Country Club in Wichita on March 23. After dropping the doubles point for the third-straight match, WSU rallied for four singles wins to grab the win.

BIZHUKOVA CONTINUES TO SHINE
Bizhukova, a junior from Balashiha, Russia, compiled her third top-10 singles win of her career on March 11, dropping No. 7 Sophie Whittle of Gonzaga in straight sets (6-2, 6-3). The junior went on to knock off No. 77 Tamuna Kutubidze of North Texas (6-1, 6-2) on March 23.
 
Bizhukova knocked off FIU's Andrea Lazaro, who ranked No. 3 in ITA/Oracle Singles Rankings, last season at ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Lubbock. The 2018 All-AAC selection followed with a 6-1, 6-3 win over No. 5 Gabriela Knutson of Syracuse in the First Round of the NCAA Team Championships in Oxford, Miss.
 
CATCHING UP WITH THE SHOCKERS
The Shockers (9-8) have wins over two ranked opponents so far this season – No. 39 SMU (4-3) and No. 39 Gonzaga (6-1). The Shockers' other wins are over Louisville (4-1), Nebraska (4-1), Creighton (4-0), Middle Tennessee State (4-1), UT-Arlington (5-1), Cincinnati (4-2) and North Texas (4-2).  Four of their losses were to ranked opponents – No. 11 Kansas, No. 37 Kansas State, No. 8 Oklahoma State, and No. 28 UCF.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
Sandra Honigova – holds an 8-5 record, mainly in the top slot. The senior has won seven of her last nine matches she has finished. Has a ranked win over No. 90 Liza Buss of SMU.
 
Esther Thebault- sports a 7-7 record primarily in the second spot. Knocked off Vivienne Kulicke of SMU, who ranked No. 117. Holds a 8-4 doubles record with Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva in the first and second slot.
 
Fatima Bizhukova – ranks No. 121 in singles play, with a 2-0 record in dual action. Both wins are over ranked opponents - No. 7-ranked Sophie Whittle of Gonzaga and No. 77 Tamuna Kutubidze of North Texas. Ranks No. 25 in doubles with Marta Bellucco.
 
LingWei Kong – is 3-8 in flights two through five. Her and Ting-Ya Hsu are 7-4 in the doubles third slot
 
Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva – 6-5 in dual singles action (3-1 in flight five). Her and Thebault sport a 8-4 doubles record
 
Ting-Ya Hsu – holds a 4-6 singles record mainly in the fifth and sixth slots. Clinched the 4-2 victory for the Shockers over Cincinnati. Holds a doubles record of 7-4 with Kong.
 
SHOCKERS JOIN TEAM RANKINGS FOR 13th STRAIGHT SEASON
For the 13^th season in a row, the Wichita State women's tennis team entered the ITA/Oracle Team Rankings on Feb. 26, coming in at No. 36. Colin Foster, in his 10^th season as the head coach, has guided his teams to a Team Ranking in every year at the helm, peaking at No. 13 in the 2015-16 season
 
2019 Polls
Feb. 26 – No. 36
March 5 – No. 40
March 12 – NR
March 19 – No. 44
 
ON THE KANGAROOS
ITA Ranking: NR
UMKC is 4-10 on the year with wins over Creighton, Missouri State, Omaha and Bradley. For the Roos, Riddhi Sharma holds a 5-5 record in flights three and four. Michela Xibilia is 2-7 in the first flight for UMKC. In doubles, Katie Fries and Thanushree Vale are 4-8, mainly in the third slot.
 
The Shockers lead the all-time series over the Roos, 9-0. WSU won 4-0 in their last meeting on Feb. 4, 2018 in Wichita.
 
ON DRAKE
Drake has wins over South Dakota, Augustana, SIU Edwardsville, Milwaukee, Omaha and Azusa Pacific, good enough for a 6-10 record on the season. Individually for the Bulldogs, Liza Petushkova is 6-6 on the season mainly on the No. 1 court. Petushkova and Kenya Williams sport a 7-5 record in doubles play on court one, while Daria Walczak and Carmen Palumbo are 7-6 in the second slot.
 
This will be the 51^st meeting between the programs, with WSU holding a 28-22 advantage over the Bulldogs. WSU swept Drake 7-0 in their last meeting on April 8, 2017.

RETURNERS
WSU returns six players from last season's 18-9 squad, who reached the Second Round of the NCAA Team Championships in Oxford, Miss. 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. LingWei Kong comes to WSU from GuangZhou, China. The sophomore recorded her first collegiate victory on Feb. 16 against Nikolina Jokic of Louisville in three sets, and topped it with a straight set win on Feb. 17 vs. Erin Epperson of Creighton (6-1, 6-1). Kong is 7-4 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 7-7 in dual matches in the second and third flights.
 
FOSTER TOPS WINS LIST
Tenth-year head coach Colin Foster became the all-time wins leader for Wichita State women's tennis after a 4-0 sweep of Creighton on Feb. 17. His first win at Wichita State was also against Creighton (5-2) on Jan. 28, 2010. Foster has compiled an impressive 181-75 record in his 10 years as head coach. A Purdue graduate and three-year assistant at TCU, Foster passed Les Stafford (178-143, 16 seasons) for most wins in the history of women's tennis. Foster claimed eight MVC Regular Season Titles, eight MVC Tournament Titles and has reached the NCAA Team Championships nine-straight years.
 
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, WSU compiled a perfect 55-0 record in MVC regular season matches and finished 78-0 overall against Valley competition since Foster's arrival in 2009. Foster earned MVC Coach of the Year honors five times, while six student-athletes were named MVC Player of the Year and four 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-