WICHITA, Kan. – The 68th ranked Wichita State women's tennis team picked up a 4-2 win on senior day over the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon at Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex.
 
The Shockers (12-9) pick up their second win in their last three matches and Louisiana Tech (14-8) drops their second match in a row.
 
"We've had some struggles results wise recently," Head Coach Colin Foster said. "The girls really embraced the challenge of the match today and found a way to win."
 
Doubles was a wire-to-wire battle that the Shocker duos would ultimately pull out. Natsumi Kurahashi and Xin Tong Wang won with ease at court two 6-0 to open doubles, but the Bulldogs battled back to win 6-4 at court three over Theodora Chantava and Giorgia Roselli, leaving Kristina Kudryavtseva and Jessica Anzo to decide doubles at court one.
 
At court one, the Shockers started slow, losing the first three games, before firing back to win five straight games and take a 5-3 lead. The Bulldogs again battled back, winning three straight games to put the pressure back on the Shockers. The Shockers won game 12 to force a tiebreak, and the teams split the first six points of the tiebreak. After that, it was all Shockers, as the Anzo and Kudryavtseva combo won four of the final five points to win the tiebreak 7-4, the set 7-6, and give the Shockers the doubles point.
 
"The match at number one doubles was big," said Foster. "It wasn't pretty, but we found a way to win."
 
In singles, Anne Knuettel fell first, losing 6-1, 6-1 to tie the match at 1-1.
 
Chantava would win a three-set battle, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, to give the Shockers the lead back.
 
Redshirt senior Kurahashi would finish off her opponent in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 at court two to earn her second win of the day.
 
Wang would fall next in a tight battle at the No. 1 singles court, losing 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to cut the Bulldog deficit down to one, keeping the door open for LA Tech comeback.
 
Kudryavtseva would slam the door on the Bulldog comeback with a three-set triumph at court five, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, to clinch the match for the Shockers, 4-2.
 
"In singles, it started to get really windy out here and LA Tech really made us work for everything," said Foster. "I thought we showed the ability to dig deep and we found a way to win today."
 
The Shockers will now get ready to compete in the American Athletic Conference Championship, which begins on April 17 in Dallas, Texas at SMU's Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex.