WICHITA, Kan. – The No. Wichita State women's tennis team returns to action Thursday (March 7), as they take on No. 37 Kansas State at the Mike Goss Tennis Stadium in the first of two Big 12 matchups in a span of four days.
 
The Shockers' (7-4) matchup in Manhattan is slated for 2 p.m. WSU will turnaround and host No. 8 Oklahoma State on Sunday, March 10 at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex.
 
Shocker Summary
The Shockers, ranked No. 40 in the latest ITA/Oracle Team Rankings,  took a week off after knocking off No. 39 SMU and Cincinnati on Feb. 22 and 24 in Wichita. Winners of six-straight, the Shockers have wins over Louisville (4-1), Nebraska (4-1), Creighton (4-0), 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.
 
Senior Sandra Honigova has won seven dual matches in a row and sports a 7-3 record in the No. 1 slot, while junior Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva has won four in a row in the fifth flight and holds a 4-2 record. Junior Ting-Ya Hsu and LingWei Kong are 6-1 in the third flight of doubles.
 
SHOCKERS RANKED FOR 13^TH STRAIGHT SEASON
For the 13^th season in a row, the Wichita State women's tennis team entered theITA/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
 
Last season, the Shockers ranked as high as No. 21 on their way to finishing 18-9 overall and a national ranking of No. 35.
 
ON THE WILDCATS
ITA Ranking: 37
Led by first year head coach Jordan Smith, Kansas State is off to a 9-3 start in the dual season. Their wins include South Dakota (7-0), William and Mary (4-1), Nebraska (4-1), North Texas (4-3), Arizona (4-0), No. 39 SMU (4-3), Cincinnati (4-0), Iowa (4-1) and UKMC (4-0). The Wildcats fell to current No. 1 and then No. 5 Georgia (7-0), Rice (6-1), and No. 31 Washington State (4-2).
 
WSU leads the all-time series with the Wildcats, 27-26. The Shockers knocked off No. 36-ranked Kansas State last season in Wichita (4-1). Foster is 6-3 versus Kansas State. 
 
Karine-Marion Job leads the Wildcats in singles action with a 9-2 record in flights two through six. Margot Decker is 7-4, mainly in flight one. Marion Job and Ines Mesquita lead the Wildcats in doubles play with a second flight record of 5-1.
 
DOUBLE TROUBLE
The Shockers have been dominant in doubles play, clinching the doubles point in nine of their 11 matches this season. The only match WSU did not clinch was against No. 11 Kansas. WSU and Houston did not compete in doubles due to weather. Kong/Hsu are 6-1-1 in flights three while Honigova and Marta Bellucco are 5-2 in the second slot. Esther Thebault and Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva are 5-3 in the top slot.
 
"All three teams have just had good chemistry, they complement each other well. Kind of gotten on a roll. It has kind of been different teams contributing each match, but we aren't getting overwhelmed at all in any spots. They have clipped quickly and kind of got some momentum and a lot of confidence playing together, so that's been a big bright spot. All these competitive matches in the schedule, having that doubles point is certainly a nice thing to have in your back pocket", said head coach Colin Foster.

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. 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 6-1 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 5-4 in dual matches in the second flight.
 
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-