WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State men's tennis team returns home for a doubleheader against Cowley County CC and Northwest Missouri State Saturday at the Coleman Tennis Complex.
 
The first match is at 11 a.m. with the No. 67 Shockers (9-8) looking to extend a 15-game winning streak against the Tigers (9-0) dating back to 1974, where they've claimed shutout victories 11 of the last 12 matches. Cowley is currently the No. 1 team in the ITA NJCAA national team rankings, holding the top two spots in the singles rankings with six more players in the top 50. All three of their doubles teams also rank in the top 10.
 
"Both teams are pretty strong," head coach Danny Bryan said. "Cowley's No. 1 and No. 2 guys are very good. They have a chance to win a national championship this year, and it's going to be a tough match."
 
The Saturday evening match starts at 4 p.m. where the Shockers will face Northwest Missouri State (5-3). The Bearcats are the No. 25 team in the ITA Division II national team rankings with two players in the top 25 in singles and the No. 43 doubles team.
 
"We're coming off a much-needed weekend off to get some guys healthy," Bryan said. "We did a lot of resting because we've been going pretty strong since the beginning of January, so we felt we needed to physically and mentally get a little rest. We've had a good break since Arizona, so we're just excited to play."
 
These two matches will lead the Shockers into a five-game stretch against conference opponents, starting with three-straight matches in Dallas, Texas where they will face Memphis, SMU and Temple.
 
"Since we came back, we started to do a little more fitness work understanding this next stretch is going to be difficult, and it's going to be warmer conditions coming up," Bryan said. "Hopefully, we'll get a lot of wins this weekend and get some confidence going into a really big week at SMU."
 
Fans can follow the matches on Twitter @GoShockersMTEN or visit the live stats link for Cowley and NWMSU.