NORMAN, Okla. – The Wichita State women's tennis team split their season-opening doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Headington Family Tennis Center. Falling to No. 16 Oklahoma, 4-0, and bouncing back to sweep the Wyoming Cowgirls, 4-0.
 
The split has the Shockers sitting at 1-1 on the new season. Oklahoma is now 1-0 with their win over WSU and Wyoming is 0-5 with their defeat.
 
In doubles against Oklahoma, the Shockers battled well against stiff, ranked competition. OU grabbed the advantage with a 6-2 win at court one over Xin Tong Wang and Giorgia Roselli, but it was quickly matched by a 6-3 win by Kristina Kudryavtseva and Theodora Chantava at court two, setting up court three to decide doubles.
 
After splitting the first four games at court three, the Sooner pair pulled out to a 5-3 lead that was too much for the Shocker pair of Anne Knuettel and Tatyana Nikolenko to overcome, as they fell 6-3, giving the doubles point to the 16^th ranked Sooners.
 
In singles, OU capitalized on their momentum from doubles, winning the first set on each of the six singles courts, spelling doom for the Shockers. Kudryavtseva fell first at court four, 6-1, 6-3, followed by Chantava at court three, 7-5, 6-1, putting the Sooners on the brink of victory. OU's No. 43 ranked Alina Shcherbinina finished off the Sooner win with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Roselli at court two, clinching and ending the match for Oklahoma.
 
Looking to bounce back against Wyoming, Knuettel and Sati Aubakirova struck first in doubles, picking up a 6-1 win at court three to give the Shocker the advantage. Wyoming would respond, putting together a 6-2 win over Wang and Roselli at court one, leaving Chantava and Kudryavtseva to decide doubles.
 
The Shocker pair fought off a rally from the Cowgirl duo, prevailing 7-5 to clinch the doubles point for WSU.
 
"Theodora and Kristina were outstanding in doubles in both matches today and their doubles clinch against Wyoming was huge," head coach Colin Foster said.
 
In singles, Chantava picked up the first singles win of the year for the Shockers, a smashing 6-1, 6-2 victory at court three to make it 2-0 WSU. 
 
Aubakirova added her first collegiate singles win soon after, a 6-1, 6-0 triumph at court six to put the Shockers at the edge of victory.
 
Roselli would put the Shockers over the edge by finishing off a win at court two, 6-1, 6-2 to clinch and end the match for the Black and Yellow.
 
"In singles against Wyoming, we pushed through a long day," Foster said. "On some courts where we were close, we could have counted on our teammates to get the necessary points, which is a dangerous mentality, but we didn't fall into that trap, and everyone competed hard and pushed until we clinched."
 
Next up, the Shockers will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska for a weekend battle with the hometown Cornhuskers on Friday, January 24, and then a match the following day against Washington State in Lincoln.