The RoundHouse | 5/3/2021 7:25:00 PM

 
Coaches, Danny Bryan pointed out, often daydream about getting a senior back for another season. Think of the success with all that talent and more maturity.
 
Wichita State did get its seniors back for the 2021 spring men's tennis season and it resulted in a spot in the NCAA Tournament. On Monday, the Shockers celebrated the program's first at-large bid and will face Arizona State (16-8) on Saturday (11 a.m.) in Fort Worth, Texas.
 
Seniors Marius Frosa and Murkel Dellien, both in their fifth season after taking a COVID-19 season of eligibility, are the nation's No. 43-ranked doubles team. Dellien is No. 35 in singles.
 
Those are the type of seniors a coach wants around.
 
"It clicked," Bryan said. "They are the face of the program on a national level. They have taken us to a completely different spot."
 
The Shockers (15-8) are in the NCAA's for the first time since 2016. 
 
"It was very special for us to look at our school's name on the (TV) screen," Dellien said. "Lucky us, we got in the last year we are here."
 
Frosa, from Romania, and Dellien, from Bolivia, both took unique routes to Wichita State in January 2017. 
 
Bryan emailed Frosa during a vacation to Arkansas, part of a large group of cold-call emails offering a scholarship for January 2017. Frosa responded during the drive,

"Yes, I will come," he said. 
 
"That was lucky," Bryan said.
 
Bryan remembered nerves when considering Dellien, who did not have a large number of match results to consider and didn't speak English. 
 
Five years later, the duo rank among the program's best. They earned All-American doubles honors in 2019 and led the Shockers back to the NCAA Tournament in 2021, sprinkling in all-conference and academic honors along the way.
 
Bryan was confident about Monday's selection show, just as he grew confident early in the season. The Shockers, he believed, could do this. They started proving it with wins over SMU and Utah – with Dellien sidelined – and in losses to Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
 
In March, they started a run that ended with Monday's announcement. Wichita State defeated NCAA teams Memphis, Denver and Pepperdine, in addition to ranked SMU. 
 
Playing in the American Athletic Conference helped – UCF, USF, Tulane and Memphis also are in the field. SMU and Tulsa, while not in the field, are ranked in the ITA's top 50 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
 
"When we moved outdoors, there we started getting results against ranked teams, like Memphis," Frosa said.
 
While the Shockers will play in the NCAA's for the first time, they faced NCAA qualifiers such as Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Pepperdine, in addition to the American teams in the 64-team field.
 
"That's a tough first-round (opponent)," Bryan said. "The key is going to do what we've been doing and not press. We've tried to put them in as many of these situations as we can, with our schedule. They're as prepared as they can be."
 
Paul Suellentrop covers Wichita State Athletics and the American Athletic Conference for university Strategic Communications. Story suggestion? Contact him at paul.suellentrop@wichita.edu.