ORLANDO – The Wichita State women's tennis team opens play at the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Championship presented by Air Force Reserve on Wednesday, April 17 at the USTA National Campus.

MATCH INFORMATION
No. 5 Wichita State  vs. No. 12 UConn
Wednesday, April 17– 8 a.m. CT
USTA National Campus – College Center courts 1-6
Tournament Central


 
SHOCKERS AGAINST THE FIELD
UCF –UCF leads 3-0. UCF won 4-0 on March 17, 2019 in Orlando
South Florida – USF leads 5-0, last meeting March 15, 2019, USF won 4-1 in Tampa
Cincinnati- WSU leads 1-0, last meeting Feb. 24, 2019, WSU won 4-2 in Wichita
Houston- Series Tied 1-1, last meeting on Feb. 8, 2019, Houston won 4-1 in Houston
UConn- First Meeting
Memphis- WSU leads 2-0. Last meeting Feb. 24, 1984- WSU won 5-4 in Fayetteville, Ark.
Tulane- WSU leads 2-0. Last meeting March 26, 2011. WSU won 5-2 in Houston, Texas
East Carolina- No meeting
Temple- No meeting
SMU- WSU leads 6-2. Last meeting Jan. 22, 2019. WSU won 4-3 in Wichita
Tulsa-  Tulsa leads 25-15. Last meeting April 12, 2019- WSU won 4-3 in Wichita


 LAST TIME OUT
The Shockers ended the regular season with two home wins against Tulsa and Saint Louis, April 12 and 13. After Marta Bellucco and Fatima Bizhukova knocked off No. 13-ranked Ploner/Okalova of Tulsa to clinch the doubles point, WSU collected singles wins on courts four, five and six for the win over the Golden Hurricane. WSU followed with a 7-0 sweep of Saint Louis on Senior Day.

BIZHUKOVA IN THE RANKINGS
Bizhukova, a senior from Balashiha, Russia, ranks No. 125 in the latest ITA/Oracle Singles Rankings (April 16) and holds a 4-2 record in the top slot. She 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 (13-9) have wins over two ranked opponents 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), North Texas (4-2), UMKC (4-0), Drake (7-0), Tulsa (4-3) and Saint Louis (7-0). Five of their losses have come to ranked opponents – No. 11 Kansas, No. 37 Kansas State, No. 8 Oklahoma State, No. 28 UCF, and No. 31 Oklahoma.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
Sandra Honigova – holds a 10-7 record, mainly in the top slot. The senior sports an 8-4 record in the top slot.
 
Esther Thebault- sports a 10-8 record primarily in the second and third spot. Knocked off Vivienne Kulicke of SMU, who ranked No. 117. Holds a 9-5 doubles record with Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva in the first and second slot.
 
Fatima Bizhukova – ranks No. 125 in singles play, with a 4-2 record in dual action. Two of her wins are over ranked opponents - No. 7-ranked Sophie Whittle of Gonzaga and No. 77 Tamuna Kutubidze of North Texas. Ranks No. 21 in doubles with Marta Bellucco.
 
LingWei Kong – is 5-8 in flights two through five. Her and Ting-Ya Hsu are 11-4 in the doubles third slot.
 
Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva – 8-6 in dual singles action (3-1 in flight five). Her and Thebault sport a 9-5 doubles record.
 
Ting-Ya Hsu – is 4-1 in the sixth spot and 8-6 overall. Clinched the 4-2 victory for the Shockers over Cincinnati. Holds a 11-4 doubles record with Kong.
 
Alexandra Lazarova- holds a 6-5 record in flights five and six. Has won five of her last six matches

 
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 19 – No. 44
 
ON UCONN
The Huskies ended the regular season with a 5-12 record, including a 1-4 mark against conference opponents. Their wins include Quinnipiac, Detroit Mercy, Temple, Georgia Southern and Bryant.
 
Individually, Julieanne Bou leads the Huskies with an 8-6 dual match record, mainly in the second slot. Bou and Gillian Perrotta lead the doubles tandems, sporting a 7-3 record in the top slot.
 
This will be the first meeting between the two programs.


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 senior 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 9-4 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 9-7 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 and currently rank No. 21 for the Shockers.  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-