WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State women's tennis team swept a doubleheader Saturday at the Wichita Country Club. They won their first match over Tulane, 4-1, and their second match over UT Arlington, 4-0.
Colin Foster's squad will be back in action on Thursday, February 27, as they take on SMU and UMKC at a location that is to be determined in the near future.
Match 1 vs. Tulane
The Shockers started their day off on the right note in doubles as Lingwei Kong and Ting-Ya Hsu tallied a win over Adelaide Lavery and Laura Fabrizi, 6-3. Esther Thebault and Natsumi Kurahashi also found a win as they dropped Christina Sisti and Lahari Yelamanchili, 6-4. Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva and Marta Bellucco were all knotted up at four on court one before their match was suspended.
Every singles match was closely contested and hard fought, but Esther Thebault found a way to win in two sets over Yelamanchili, 7-5, 6-2. Bellucco and Kong were the next to finish and clinched the match for the Shockers with wins over Gish, 6-4, 6-3, and Lavery, 6-4, 7-5, respectively.
Shocker Results
Wichita State 4, Tulane 1
Singles Competition:
1.) Clark (TUL) def. Saidhujaeva (WSU) 7-5, 7-5
2.) Kong (WSU) def. Lavery (TUL) 6-4, 7-5
3.) Thebault (WSU) def. Yelamanchili (TUL) 7-5, 6-2
4.) Bellucco (WSU) def. Gish (TUL) 6-4, 6-3
5.) Lazarova (WSU) vs. Sisti (TUL) 5-0, susp.
6.) Kurahashi (WSU) vs. Fabrizi (TUL) 4-0, susp.
Â
Doubles Competition:
1.) Saidhujaeva/Bellucco (WSU) vs. Clark/Gish (TUL) 4-4, susp.
2.) Kong/Hsu (WSU) def. Lavery/Fabrizi (TUL) 6-3
3.) Thebault/Kurahashi (WSU) def. Sisti/Yelamanchili (TUL)
Match 2 vs. UT Arlington
In doubles, Kong and Hsu moved quickly on court two getting a 6-0 shutout victory over Momoka Horiguchi and Liz Chileno. No. 28 Saidhujaeva and Bellucco followed closely behind on court one defeating Polina Akimova and Nanaka Takeuchi, 6-3. Alexandra Lazarova and Kurahashi were tied 4-4 on court three before being suspended.
The Shockers continued their dominance in singles as Belluco downed Chileno, 6-3, 6-1, while Saidhujaeva followed closely behind with a victorious effort versus Horiguchi, 6-0, 6-3. With WSU needing one more point to seal the match, Kong answered the call on court one battling out a win against Akimova, 6-1, 6-4.
Singles Competition:
1.) Kong (WSU) def. Akimova (UTA) 6-1, 6-4
2.) Saidhujaeva (WSU) def. Horiguchi (UTA) 6-0, 6-3
3.) Bellucco (WSU) def. Chileno (UTA) 6-3, 6-1
4.) Thebault (WSU) vs. Garcia (UTA) 2-6, 6-3, susp.
5.) Lazarova (WSU) vs. Natal (UTA) 1-2, susp.
6.) Kurahashi (WSU) vs. Pons (UTA) 1-0, susp.
Doubles Competition:
1.) Saidjujaeva/Bellucco (WSU) def. Akimova/Takeuchi (UTA) 6-3
2.) Kong/Hsu (WSU) def. Horiguchi/Chileno (UTA) 6-0
3.) Lazarova/Kurahashi (WSU) vs. Pons/Boza (UTA) 4-4, susp.
Â
Quote from Head Coach Colin Foster: "We've been playing well but certainly when you haven't won in a while it's human nature to have some uncertainty when it comes time to close out sets and matches. Obviously we handled that challenge well and were successful on many courts. Sarvi and Esther have really had some tough and close losses so for them to both get in the winners circle today was important, and Lingwei and Marta continue to play with confidence and they played well today. Finally, for Lingwei and Tina to renew their partnership from last year and go 2-0, including a 6-0 win against UTA, really set the tone for that second match that we weren't going to let our foot off the gas."
