Shockers Open Spring Season this Weekend

1/20/2023 8:15:00 PM

The Wichita State women's tennis team opens its spring season this weekend with matches Saturday at Kansas and Sunday at home against Oral Roberts.

Saturday's road match at KU's Jayhawk Tennis Center begins at Noon CT. Live scoring and video are available here and here.

Sunday's home opener at the Wichita Country Club gets underway at 5 p.m. CT. Fans can follow live scoring via shockerstats.com.

THE TEAM:

All-time wins leader Colin Foster's 13^th season at WSU was marred by an unprecedented string of bad luck (go figure). His Shockers navigated the final six weeks of the 2021-22 season with only five healthy players and limped to an 8-13 record.

Foster has reasons for renewed optimism heading into 2022-23.

Eight of them to be exact.

Four of the five players that finished out last season are back, joined by four talented newcomers.

Veterans Natsumi Kurahashi and Lingwei Kong – both in their fourth seasons with the program --- split time atop the form chart last spring and have more than 150 career singles and doubles wins between them.

Also returning are graduate student Harriet Hamilton and sophomore Clara Whitaker, who finished first and second on the team in dual victories while playing in the lower half of the lineup.

The rotation gets a boost with the addition of Texas A&M grad transfer Jessica Anzo (Temecula, Calif.) who battled injuries during her time in College Station but put together a combined 67-24 single and doubles mark over three seasons.

Freshman Kristina Kudryavtseva (Moscow, Russia) had a solid fall showing, posting a 9-2 doubles record across four tournaments, while two late arrivals – Theodora Chantava (Grevena, Greece) and Marlene Förster (Pforzheim, Germany) -- will look to hit the ground running this spring.

THE SCHEDULE:

The initial 2022-23 calendar includes 20 dates, seven of which are at home.

Wichita State will host four matches on the Wichita Country Club indoor courts against Oral Roberts (Sunday, Jan. 22, 5 p.m.), Drake (Saturday, Jan. 28, 2 p.m.), Abilene Christian (Friday, Feb. 3, 4 p.m.) and UT Arlington (Saturday, Feb. 11, 2 p.m.).

Eight of Wichita State's 13 road or neutral site opponents finished up with ITA national rankings (top-75) and five advanced to the postseason.

The Shockers open against a Kansas team that sits just outside the top-25 in the ITA's initial 2023 team rankings and reached the second round in last year's NCAA tournament.

Wichita State will take on Tulsa and Louisiana Tech on consecutive days at Tulsa's Case Tennis Center (Feb. 18-19).

The following weekend (Feb. 24-25), the Shockers challenge preseason No. 13 Oklahoma State and South Carolina in Stillwater, Okla. The Cowgirls made a Super Regional in 2022 and the Gamecocks advanced to the second round.

Wichita State continues its in-state rivalry with Kansas State during a Mar. 3 visit to Manhattan, then travels to national runner-up and preseason No. 4 Oklahoma (Mar. 5) and Nebraska (Mar. 10).

A journey to Florida Atlantic on Mar. 14 concludes a stretch of six-straight matches against 2022 top-75 squads and opens up a week-long spring break road swing that also includes matches at South Florida (Mar. 16) and Tulane (Mar. 19).

Weather permitting, WSU will make its outdoor debut at the Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex on Mar. 24 and 26 with home matches against South Dakota (Friday, Mar. 24, 1 p.m.) and Omaha (Sunday, Mar. 26, 10 a.m.), ending a 41-day gap between home action.

A weekend jaunt to Cincinnati, Ohio follows for duals against Cincinnati (Mar. 31) and defending Big East champion Xavier (Apr. 1).

The Shockers celebrate senior day and wrap up their regular season slate on Saturday, Apr. 15 against Creighton.

The American Athletic Conference tournament runs Apr. 19-22 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

Four of the 11 AAC teams finished last year among the ITA's top-75 with UCF and defending champion Memphis representing the league in the NCAAs. UCF is No. 23 in the latest preseason rankings.

2022-23 WICHITA STATE WOMEN'S TENNIS SCHEDULE:

Jan. 21 (Sat) -- at Kansas -- Noon
Jan. 22 (Sun) -- ORAL ROBERTS -- 5 p.m.
Jan. 28 (Sat) -- DRAKE -- 2 p.m.
Feb. 3 (Fri) -- ABILENE CHRISTIAN -- 4 p.m.
Feb. 11 (Sat) -- UT ARLINGTON -- 2 p.m.
Feb. 18 (Sat) -- at Tulsa -- TBA
Feb. 19 (Sun) -- vs. Louisiana Tech % -- 1 p.m.
Feb. 24 (Fri) -- at Oklahoma St. -- 5 p.m.
Feb. 25 (Sat) -- vs. South Carolina # -- 10:30 a.m.
Mar. 3 (Fri) -- at Kansas St. -- TBA
Mar. 5 (Sun) -- at Oklahoma -- 1 p.m.
Mar. 10 (Fri) -- at Nebraska -- 5 p.m.
Mar. 14 (Tue) -- at Florida Atlantic -- 2 p.m.
Mar. 16 (Thu) -- at South Florida -- 11 a.m.
Mar. 19 (Sun) -- at Tulane -- Noon
Mar. 24 (Fri) -- SOUTH DAKOTA -- 1 p.m.
Mar. 26 (Sun) -- OMAHA -- 10 a.m.
Mar. 31 (Fri) -- at CIncinnati -- 1 p.m.
Apr. 1 (Sat) -- at Xavier -- Noon
Apr. 15 (Sat) -- CREIGHTON -- 1 p.m.
Apr. 19-22 -- American Athletic Conference Championship (Orlando, Fla.)

% = at Tulsa, Okla.
# = at Stillwater, Okla.
Home duals in BOLD CAPS
Indoor matches at Wichita Country Club (January/February)
Outdoor matches at WSU's Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex (March/April) unless weather requires a move indoors. Follow @goshockersWTEN on match days for location updates.

Print Friendly Version

Wichita State Athletics

Events

Shockers Open Spring Season this Weekend