WICHITA, Kan. – The Wichita State women's tennis team earned a 6-1 victory on Sunday morning at Wichita Country Club in their first-ever match against the Fordham Rams.
 
The Shockers (6-4) earned their third victory in their last four matches while Fordham (3-4) has lost back-to-back matches.
 
Head coach Colin Foster thought his team played really well against the defending Atlantic 10 Conference champions.
 
"It was a very complete team performance today," said Foster. "We were pushed in a lot of sets and responded well under pressure."
 
Doubles was close, but the Shockers would ultimately prevail, winning 2-1 to take the early advantage.
 
The duo of Natsumi Kurahashi and Xin Tong Wang fell behind early at court one 2-0, before winning six consecutive games to win their match, 6-2.
 
Court two was the opposite story as the Shocker duo of Kristina Kudryavtseva and Jessica Anzo saw their 2-0 lead evaporate, as the Fordham pair won six of the final eight games to take the court 6-4 and tie doubles at one-all.
 
Paired up for the first time this year in a dual match, Anne Knuettel and Theodora Chantava battled back from down 0-2 to tie their match 3-3 at court three and would eventually take a 5-4 lead. With the pressure on Fordham, the Rams would take a 30-15 lead in the decisive game, but some excellent serving from Knuettel would lock up the win at court three and give the Shockers the doubles point.
 
Comebacks were the story of the day in singles, as multiple Shockers overcame early deficits to take victory.
 
Playing at the No. 4 position for the first time this year, Chantava won first at court four in a tight, straight set victory, 6-4, 7-5. Chantava trailed 4-5 in the second set, before winning the final three games to clinch victory.
 
Kudryavtseva broke her three-match losing streak in singles with a 7-6, 6-3 win at court three.
 
Shortly after, Wang clinched a match victory for the Shockers with a three-set win at court two. Wang lost the first set 6-4, but absolutely dominated in sets two and three, winning both by a score of 6-1 to secure the match for the Shockers.
 
Playing the match out, Fordham would take the next point with a win over Kurahashi at court one in a ten-point tiebreak, 3-6, 7-6, 10-5.
 
Knuettel dominated in her singles match at court five, crushing her opponent, 6-2, 6-1.
 
Anzo concluded the match with another commanding win at court six, 6-2, 6-2.
 
"As I've said before, we've got a very deep team and it's great to consistently get contributions from everyone," said Foster. "We're not relying or leaning to heavily on any one individual. Everyone is giving their best and making progress."
 
The Shockers will now get some time off before returning back to the competition court.
 
"These next few weeks are going to be a great opportunity to rest and make some improvements before the second half of our season," said Foster.
 
The next match for the Shockers is on March 8 at home against Abilene Christian.