WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State women's tennis team took home a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Tulane Green Wave at the Wichita Country Club on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Shockers (4-3) collect their first home victory of the year, moving to 1-1 playing in Wichita. The Green Wave (4-2) drop to 1-2 in road contest this season.
 
Head Coach Colin Foster was proud of the fight his team showed today.
 
"It's a great team win," said Foster. "We were down a break across all three doubles courts, but we stayed calm and were able to flip two of them and ultimately that was the difference in the match."
 
It was an all-out war on the doubles courts with the crucial point being decided by just a couple games. 
 
Anne Knuettel and Kristina Kudryavtseva were defeated at court two, 6-2, but Theodora Chantava and Giorgia Roselli tied it 1-1 with a 6-4 victory at court three. This turned all eyes to court one where Natsumi Kurahashi and Xin Tong Wang vied for the decisive point. 
 
The Shocker duo rallied from down 2-3 to take a 6-5 lead, but Tulane won the next game to tie the match 6-6 and force a tiebreak. The Shocker combo dominated in the tiebreak, using an early 3-1 advantage to surge to a 7-2 victory and clinching the point for the Shockers.
 
Singles was another high stakes battle with tight matches on multiple courts.
 
Wang won first with a sweeping victory at court two over Tulane's Mackenzie Clark, 6-2, 6-4. The win made her 4-0 overall this week going 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles.
 
"Xin Tong has showed she can play singles and doubles at a really high level," said Foster. "She can play any style required depending on the situation and opponent."
 
Knuettel would fall at court four shortly after in a tight match, 4-6, 6-7 (1), making it 2-1.
 
The Green Wave's Kristen Borland tied the match 2-2 with an incredibly tight win over Kudryavtseva at line three, 6-4, 6-7 (1), 6-4.
 
Tulane would take the lead with another close win, this one at court one over Kurahashi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, turning all eyes to Chantava and Roselli at courts five and six.
 
Chantava crushed her opponent at five, winning handedly 6-1, 6-2 to tie the match back at 3-3.
 
"Theodora really kept her foot on the gas from start to finish," said Foster. "Then Giorgia handled the pressure of a clinching situation really well, which is a tough ask for a freshman."
 
Roselli would come up clutch, outdueling her opponent at court six, 6-0, 6-3, to win the match for the Shockers, 4-3.
 
"Everyone played a role in the win," said Foster. "Even those that lost were playing and supporting with great energy."
 
Next up, the Shockers will take another road trip, heading to Arlington, Texas to face the University of Texas – Arlington Mavericks at 2:00 PM on February 15, followed by a match the next day against American Athletic Conference foe, SMU in Dallas at 2:00 PM.