WICHITA STATE WOMEN'S TENNIS (4-1)
 
at TULSA (6-3)
Saturday, 1 p.m. CT
Tulsa, Okla. / Case Tennis Center
Live Scoring/Video
 
vs. LOUISIANA TECH (6-1)
Sunday, 1 p.m. CT
Tulsa, Okla. / Bernis Dukes Tennis Courts (ORU)
 

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TULSA, Okla. -- Sweeping a four-game homestand helped the Wichita State women's tennis team build some early confidence and momentum.
 
Now head coach Colin Foster looks forward to putting his team through the ringer.
 
Weekend matches against Tulsa (Saturday) and Louisiana Tech (Sunday at ORU) to kick off a challenging stretch designed to test this squad both physically and mentally.
 
The Shockers (4-1 this spring) will play 10 straight road or neutral site matches over the next month. Seven are against programs that finished last year with ITA national team rankings (top-75), including Tulsa (No. 46).
 
"We're going to get in a good rhythm match wise, and continue to get stronger and learn things about ourselves through competition," Foster said.
  
Saturday, the Shockers put their four-match winning streak on the line against last year's American Athletic Conference runner-up, Tulsa (6-3). Senior standout Laia Conde Monfort made the main singles and doubles draws at last fall's ITA All-American Championship.
 
The Shockers are 24-19 all-time against Tulsa but have dropped the last three meetings. They last defeated the Hurricane on their home court in 2017.
 
Sunday's opponent, LA Tech, won 18 matches last spring and is out to 6-1 start this year. The Lady Techsters' lone loss came at Tulsa back on Jan. 14. Junior Leonie Schuknecht has a perfect 6-0 record at No. 1 singles and ranks seventh on the school's career dual wins list.
 
Shocker teams are 2-0 against LA Tech. The schools last played in the 2014-15 season opener (a 5-2 WSU win at the Wichita Country Club). The other matchup came during the 1980-81 season.
 
WSU opened the spring with a 6-1 loss to Kansas before sweeping a four-game homestand against Oral Roberts (7-0), Drake (5-2), Abilene Christian (6-1) and UT Arlington (4-0).
 
Top singles player, Jessica Anzo, rested against ACU and UTA but others emerged in her absence. Graduate student Lingwei Kong (4-1 this spring) has won four straight matches while splitting time between Nos. 2-3 singles while Theodora Chantava (4-1) and Natsumi Kurahashi (3-1) have each won three-in-a-row.
 
The No. 1 doubles tandem of Kong and Kurahashi (3-0 in duals) have built on a solid fall tournament season that saw them advance to the ITA Central Region quarterfinals.
 
"The girls have been putting in incredible work in practice," Foster said. "We've been at home and only playing one match a week, so we've really been able to train hard this first part of the season. Now, going on the road, we hope to just to keep getting better."