WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State men's tennis team takes a three-match win streak to the Lone Star State, where they will take on SMU and UT-Arlington on April 7-8.
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The Shockers (13-9) will take on the Mustangs at 12 p.m. at the SMU Tennis Complex and follow with Monday matinee against UT-Arlington at 1 p.m. in Arlington.
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LAST TIME OUT
The Shockers collected a 6-1 win over Creighton on March 29 and followed with a 7-0 sweep of UTSA on Senior Day. The Shockers grabbed momentum from the doubles point in both matches, on their way to wins 12 and 13.
CATCHING UP WITH THE SHOCKERS
The Shockers (13-9) have three top-50 wins under their belt - No. 43 Drake (4-2), No. 28 Dartmouth (4-2), and No. 50 Memphis (4-3). Â WSU's other wins have come against Nebraska (4-3), Denver (5-2), UNC-Wilmington (4-0), Middle Tennessee State (4-3), Tennessee State (7-0), Charlotte (4-3), UMKC (4-0), Drake (4-1 in San Diego), Creighton (6-1) and UTSA (7-0). Â Five of their nine 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).
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DOUBLE TROUBLE
Junior duo
Murkel Dellien and
Marius Frosa jumped into this week's ITA/Oracle Doubles Rankings, coming in at No. 26. The pair hold a perfect 7-0 record in the top slot, with wins over two top-30 foes. Dellien and Frosa knocked off No. 26 Keist/Christoforou on March 17 and followed with a 6-4 win over Stevenson/Cutting of Memphis, who ranked No. 30 at the time. The ranking is the highest by a Shocker duo since the 2015-16 season.
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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. WSU has stayed steady in the weekly rankings since late February.
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2019 Polls
Feb. 26 – No. 44
March 5- No. 39
March 19- No. 48
March 26 – No. 50
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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 in Wichita (4-2), their first win over the Bulldogs since the 2015-16 season. On March 12, the Shockers rallied from a 3-1 deficit to knock off No. 50 Memphis (4-3) in Wichita.
STRONG SCHEDULE
Six opponents the Shockers have faced are in the top-50 of the ITA/Oracle Team Rankings (March 26). Mississippi State (8), TCU (9), Minnesota (35), Oklahoma (17), Tennessee (15), and Dartmouth (36). Â
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SCOUTING SMU
The Mustangs are 11-13 on the season, with wins over Prairie View A&M (twice), Nebraska, Texas- Pemian Basin, Midwestern State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Incarnate Word, Oklahoma Baptist, Loyola Marymount and New Orleans.
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SMU is led by Grant Chen, in his first year at the helm. Carles Sarrio Tamarit leads the Mustangs individually with an 11-9 record in the top slot and a national ranking of 69. Tomas Vaise and Jan-Simon Vrbsky are 7-7 in doubles in the top slot.
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The Mustangs hold an 8-1 all-time series advantage over the Shockers. WSU's lone win came last April in Dallas, a 4-3 thriller at the SMU Tennis Complex.
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SCOUTING UT-ARLINGTON
The Mavericks hold a 12-7 record in spring action, with wins over Texas-Permian Basin, Prairie View A&M, Dallas Baptist, Cameron, Lamar, New Mexico State, Georgetown, UTSA, Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and SMU.
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Guanarteme Nuez ranks No. 102 for the Mavericks and holds a 12-4 record. The senior is 9-1 in the second slot and has wins over two ranked opponents. Enrique Pardo is 10-2 in the first flight and 12-4 overall. In doubles, Pardo and Eduard Simo hold a 9-5 second flight record while Nuez and Mauricio Rio are 8-6 in the top slot.
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WSU leads the all-time series with UT-Arlington, 10-7. The Shockers faced off against the Mavericks twice in 2017, where the teams split a pair of matches.
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BY THE NUMBERS
Haru Inoue – 11-5 in dual play, and 7-1 in flight two. Has three wins over ranked opponents (No. 75 Scott Jones of Tennessee, No. 64 Tom Hands of Drake and No. 84 Luca Keist of Charlotte). His win over Hands clinched the match over Drake. Inoue is 7-9 in doubles with Dellien, Latinovic and Stoica on the season.
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Murkel Dellien – the junior from Trinidad, Bolivia is 10-9 in dual play, mainly in the top slot.
Dellien clinched the match over No. 28 Dartmouth with straight set win over Dan Martin in flight two. Dellien knocked off No. 72 Tom Hands of Drake on March 24 in San Diego. Five of Dellien's losses are to ranked opponents. Dellien is 13-7 in doubles with three different partners. Him and Frosa are 7-0 on the season in the top spot.
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Marius Frosa - 10-8 in the third slot for WSU. The junior clinched the match at Middle Tennessee with an impressive come-from-behind win on Feb. 4. and capped it with a match-clinching win over Jeremy Taylor on March 12 against Memphis. Â Frosa is 11-8 in doubles play (7-0 with Dellien)
Eddie Stoica – Stoica, one of four Shocker seniors, is 8-10 in dual play mainly in the fourth (6-6) and fifth (2-3) positions. Stoica is 7-10 in doubles with four different teammates.
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Stefan Latinovic – Latinovic, a 6-foot-6 freshman from Belgrade Serbia is 9-8 on the season in flights four and five. He has won seven of his last nine matches and is 8-2 in the fifth flight after starting 0-6 (flight four). Latinovic is 4-9 in doubles with
Andrea Caligiana, Inoue and Ovil.
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Orel Ovil – The freshman from Petah Tikva, Israel has been on a tear as of late, winning six of his last eight in the sixth flight and is 9-4 overall. Ovil broke into the doubles rotation on March 17 where he picked up a win with Stoica in the third flight over UMKC and is 1-3 on the season.
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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.
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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.
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). Â 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.
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