PHOENIX, Ariz. – The Wichita State men's tennis team is set to start the 2024 campaign against stiff competition in The Grand Canyon State.
 
The Shockers will open the year with three matches over two days in Arizona, beginning with a battle on January 11 against the Grand Canyon Antelopes. They will follow that with two matches at Arizona State's Whiteman Tennis Center on January 12. The first match of the day will be against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks at 12:00 PM Central Time and the second against host Arizona State at 4:00 PM Central Time.
 
SHOCKER NOTES

• The Shockers will enter the 2024 season looking to grow more from their 2023 campaign. The 2024 season will be the second for the Shockers under Head Coach Darragh Glavin.
• The Shockers return five players from the 2023 roster along with three newcomers in Marcelo Sepulveda, Vanja Hodzic, and newest addition Ziwen Ju.
• Hodzic and sophomore returner Alejandro Jacome led the Shockers in singles wins in the fall season with eight apiece.
• Hodzic finished as singles runner-up in Oklahoma State's Cowboy Classic on October 15, falling in a ten-point playoff to SMU's Eric Hadigian.
• On the doubles side, the Shocker duo of Jacome and Kristof Minarik collected the most wins in the fall, as they earned four wins and ended the fall on a two-match win streak.
• Graduate transfer Marcelo Sepulveda is expected to add depth and experience to the Shocker roster. The former Florida Gulf Coast and Alabama lineup regular has collected 30 singles wins and 43 doubles wins in his collegiate career so far.
• This is the second consecutive year that the Shockers will play Grand Canyon in the season opener.

SERIES HISTORIES

• The Shockers are 2-0 against Grand Canyon all-time. They collected a 6-1 victory over GCU to open the 2023 season and a 4-2 win in the first ever meeting between the teams on March 4th, 2018.
• Wichita State has met Northern Arizona twice all-time, but this will be the first match between the teams since March 9th, 1996, where the Shockers were blanked 0-7 in San Diego, California.
• The lone other meeting with the Lumberjacks came on March 11th, 1994, also in San Diego, where Shockers inked out a 4-3 victory.
• Arizona State emerged victorious over Wichita State in their matchup last season on January 15^th, 2023, by a score of 1-4 with Jacome collecting the Shockers lone point.
• The teams have met two other times before. The Shockers were defeated by the Sun Devils at the 2021 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships 3-4 in Fort Worth, Texas. The other meeting came during the 2004 season where the Shockers were defeated 0-7.

GRAND CANYON

• The Grand Canyon Antelopes are in their second year under the leadership of head coach Derek Siddiqui.
• The Lopes are coming off a season where they went 7-14 overall and 2-3 in WAC play.
• GCU's roster consists of seven total players and five returners from last season, highlighted by last year's team singles win leaders in Alfred Almasi (8) and Jonathan Da Sliva (7).
• GCU sophomore Paolo Rosati collected the lone point for the Lopes at #5 singles in their 1-6 loss to Wichita State last season.

NORTHERN ARIZONA

• The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks are in their sixth year under head coach Maciej Bogusz.
• The Lumberjacks enter 2024 fresh off a 2023 campaign that saw them finish 22-3 including wins over two ranked opponents in #66 Gonzaga and #68 Air Force.
• The Lumberjacks were ranked #66 in the ITA's final top-75 poll of the season.

ARIZONA STATE

• The Sun Devils are led by former South Florida Head Coach Matt Hill who is in his sixth season leading the Arizona State program.
• Under Hill, the Sun Devils have made three NCAA Regionals appearances posting 14 or more wins in four of his six years at the helm.
• The Sun Devils are coming off a season where they finished 14-12, going 2-6 in PAC-12 action, and receiving an NCAA Regionals bid.
• Arizona State ended last year ranked #40 in the final ITA top-75 Poll.

MATCH INFORMATION
WICHITA STATE (0-0) AT GRAND CANYON (0-0)
Thursday, Jan. 11. | 1:00 PM
Phoenix, Ariz. | GCU Tennis Facility
 
WICHITA STATE (0-0) vs NORTHERN ARIZONA (0-0)
Friday, Jan. 12 | 12:00 PM
Tempe, Ariz. | Whiteman Tennis Center
 
WICHITA STATE (0-0) AT ARIZONA STATE (0-0)
Friday, Jan. 12 | 4:00 PM
Tempe, Ariz. | Whiteman Tennis Center
 
NEXT UP
The Shockers will get a week off before hitting the road again, this time traveling to Lubbock, Texas to challenge the Texas Tech Red Raiders on January 20 at 12:00 PM.