2023-24 Shocker Women's Tennis

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Roll Over Fordham

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.

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."

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Not sure I would describe it as rolling over Fordham, But it was a good, solid victory. The doubles was pretty competitive as were 4 of the 6 singles matches.

The Shocks are now off until a March 8th home match vs Abilene Christian.

[1972Shocker]

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Vanquish Abilene Christian

The Wichita State women's tennis team earned a clean sweep of the Abilene Christian Wildcats on Friday afternoon at Wichita Country Club.

The Shockers (7-4) earn their fourth victory in their last five matches while Abilene Christian (2-7) has now lost three in a row.

Head coach Colin Foster was very happy with his team's performance.

"We played well across the board," said Foster. "It was a great effort to get a 7-0 win and start an important week for us with a complete team win."

Not sure you can read a lot into this win other than you need to put away inferior opponents and the Shocks did that.

Next up, the Shockers will take a trip next week to Indian Wells, California, where they will compete against the North Texas Mean Green on Tuesday and the #68 Liberty Flames on Wednesday. Those matches will provide a better measuring stick for the Lady Shocks.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Rally to Beat North Texas

Wichita State women's tennis team roared back to knock off the North Texas Mean Green on Tuesday afternoon 4-2 at The Vintage Club in Indian Wells, California.

The Shockers (8-4) have won three straight matches while North Texas (8-8) has lost back-to-back matches in the last two days.

"It was a nearly four-hour battle. A fantastic match," said Head Coach Colin Foster. "It was two very evenly matched teams, but we just fought and found a way to win."

After losing the doubles point the Shockers were able to pick up the needed 4 wins in the singles matches

In order of finish the Shocks won those 4 sets as follows:
#2 Singles: Freshman Xin Tong Wang won 7-5, 6-4
#1 Singles: Senior Natsumi Kurahashi won 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
#6 Singles: Grad Student Jessica Anzo won 2-6, 7-5, 6-1
#4 Singles: Sophomore Theodora Chantava won 6-4, 6(5)-7(7), 6-1

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Fight Off #66 Liberty, Earn First Ranked Win of the Season

Wichita State women's tennis team withstood a charge from the 66th ranked Liberty Flames on Wednesday afternoon to pick up a quality 4-2 win.

The Shockers (9-4) have won four straight matches.

After winning the doubles point Senior Natsumi Kurahashi lost 0-6, 4-6 in the #1 singles. However, freshman Xin Tang Wong took the #2 singles 6-2, 6-3 and fellow freshman Anne Knuetel fought back to win the #6 singles 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 to put the Shocks up 3-1 and only needing 1 more win in the remaining singles matches.

Jessica Anzo dropped 2 close sets to lose the #4 singles 6-7 (5-7 TB) and 4-6 to make it 3-2, Thing were not looking very good with sophomore Theodora Chantava trailing 2-5 in the 3rd set in the #4 singles and freshman Giorgia Roselli down 2-4 in the 3rd set of the #5 singles. Both Theodora and Giorgia rallied to tie their final sets at 5-5 with Giorgia pulling out a 7-5 win to finish off her 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 match clintching win at #5 singles.

Head coach Colin Foster was incredibly excited to get the win.

"I'm pretty speechless to be honest," said Foster. "That was two days in a row of competition at its finest."

The Shockers will now travel to the other side of the country for a pair of matches against ranked opponents this weekend, both in Charlotte, North Carolina. The first is against 47th ranked Denver on Saturday at 12:00 PM and the second is against 52nd ranked and host Charlotte at 10:00 AM the following day.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers Roll Past Shorthanded No. 47 Denver

Wichita State women's tennis team defeated the shorthanded and 47th ranked Denver Pioneers 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Charlotte's Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex. Denver only had five healthy players available for the match. So they were forced to forfeit the #3 doulbes and the #6 singles. The Lady Shocks went throuh this in 2021-22 season when they were down to 5 healthy players for the final 8 matches of that seasson.

The Shockers took advantage of Denver's misfortune to win the 5th straight dual meet and move to 10-4 on the season.

While they only need to win 1 of the 2 doubles sets the Shocks won both of them 7-5 and 6-4 to pick up the double point.

With the doubles point in hand and a forteit at the #6 singles the Shocks only needed to win 2 of the 5 singles macthes to win the dual.

Xin Tong Wang won the #2 singles 6-1, 6-2 to put the Shocks up 3-0.

Natsumi Kurahashi lost the #1 singles 1-6. 3-6 to make it 3-1 before Theodora Chantava took the #4 singles 6-2, 6-4 to clinch the in for the Shocks at 4-1.

[1972Shocker]

Shockers’ Win Streak Snapped by No. 52 Charlotte

Playing their fourth match in six days, the Wichita State women's tennis team was defeated by the 52nd Charlotte 49ers 4-0 at Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex on Sunday afternoon.

The Shockers (10-5) see their five-match win streak end, while Charlotte (13-5) increases their win streak to five matches with the win.

In spite of the loss, Head Coach Colin Foster was very happy with the progress his group has made across this long road trip.

"Today, was just a tough day the office to be honest," said Foster. "Everyone is competing their tails off and we just couldn't claw our way back into it."

Charlotte won the doubles point 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 at the #1, #2 and #3 doubles respectively.

Charlotte closed out the match with wins at #5 singles 6-0, 6-3, #1 singles 6-3, 6-4 and #2 singles 6-1, 7-5. The Shocks were pretty competive in the other 3 unfinished singles matches.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Women's Tennis Enters National Rankings for the First Time This Season

After taking down two ranked opponents last week, the Wichita State women's tennis team entered the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Poll for the first time in the 2024 season on Tuesday.

The Shockers (10-5) are ranked 55th in the poll, one spot behind American Athletic Conference foe Memphis and one spot ahead of UC-Santa Barbara. The 55th ranking is the highest ranking for the Shockers since March 19, 2019, when they were ranked 44th.

Head Coach Colin Foster was glad to see his team's hard work lead to a national ranking

"This team has consistently worked very hard throughout the season," said Foster. "We had a ten-day stretch where our season went from halfway complete to being 75% complete. We knew it would be an important stretch and the team responded really well."

Wichita State climbs into the poll after going 3-1 in their spring break gauntlet last week. The Shockers defeated North Texas, No. 66 Liberty, and No. 47 Denver, before ending the week with a loss to No. 52 Charlotte.

WSU is one of seven teams from the AAC to appear in this week's poll with SMU being ranked the highest at No. 43.

AAC teams in this week's poll: SMU (43), Charlotte (48), Memphis (54), Wichita State (55), South Florida (57), Florida Atlantic (64), Tulane (72)

"Obviously as a coach, you're constantly looking at where you can keep getting better and that's our job now – to get better," said Foster. "We have several more opportunities before the conference tournament and if we keep improving and learning, then the results and rankings will come."

The Shockers have the week off from match action, but will return to the courts on Saturday, March 30, in Memphis, Tennessee for a battle with the UAB Blazers, followed by a match the next day against the hometown and 54th ranked Memphis Tigers.

[1972Shocker]

I would point out that the Shockers win over #47 Denver was greatly aided by the fact that Denver only had 5 players available. Graduate student Britt Purcell was unable to play due to illness, leaving Denver without its No. 2 singles player and one half of its No. 1 doubles team.

Still the Shocks had to win 1 of the 2 doubles matches that were played (they won both of them 7-5 and 6-4) and they had to win 2 of the 5 singles matches which they took care of pretty quickly winning at the #2 and #4 singles convincingly.

However, there is no doubt that the Shocks are showing improvement over the course of the season.

Of their 6 remaining matches 2 are against Top 75 teams on the road - #54 Memphis and #50 Kansas. The other 4 matches include two vs AAC Teams (UAB in Memphis and Tulsa in Wichita) and plus home matches vs Kansas City and Louisiana Tech.

The Shocks should win the matches with UAB, Kansas City and La Tech. If they can pull out wins at Memphis and Kansas and beat Tulsa at home they could move up in the rankings which could help them with their seeding in the AAC Championships. Tulsa is only 8-8 this year but have played a very tough schedule and they are usually a Top 75 team.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Wang Named AAC Women's Tennis Player of the Week

On the same day that the Wichita State women's team entered the ITA National Poll for the first time in the 2024 season, women's tennis player Xin Tong Wang was named the American Athletic Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon.

Wang is the first Player of the Week selection for the Shocker women's tennis team since March 23, 2021, when Sarvinoz Saidhujaeva earned the honor.

Wang, a redshirt freshman for the Shockers from Hangzhou, China, had a tremendous week on the court for the Shockers last week. Competing at No. 2 doubles and No. 2 singles, she went an excellent 6-2 in matches overall on the week, going 3-1 in both singles and doubles.

On Tuesday against North Texas, Wang picked up a crucial win for the Shockers at line two singles and added a win in doubles at court two, 6-2, in the Shockers 4-2 comeback win over the Mean Green

On Wednesday against 66^th ranked Liberty, Wang delivered again, picking up a sweeping win at No. 2 doubles with partner Natsumi Kurahashi, and added a crushing win at line two singles, 6-2, 6-3 to help the Shockers to their first win over a ranked opponent this season.

On Saturday against 47^th ranked Denver, Wang would go 2-0 again, helping the Shockers take the doubles point with a win at court two, 6-4, and adding another singles win in dominant fashion, 6-1, 6-2, to help the Shockers upend the 47^th ranked Pioneers, 4-1.

Her performance this week put her at 9-3 in singles and 10-3 in doubles in the 2024 season. Both winning totals are tied for most among all Shockers so far this season

Wang will look to continue her winning ways next weekend when the Shockers travel to Memphis, Tennessee for a pair of AAC matches against UAB and Memphis.

[1972Shocker]

[WstateU]

Also give her a spot on the all-name team.

[1972Shocker]

Also give her a spot on the all-name team.

I wonder what her walk-up music is:

[1972Shocker]

Shocks take on UAB and #46 Memphis this weekend with both matches in Memphis.

[1972Shocker]

No. 58 Shockers Suffer Setback with Loss to UAB

The 58th ranked Wichita State women's tennis team dropped a neutral site match to the UAB Blazers 4-2 on Saturday afternoon at Leftwich Tennis Center in Memphis.

After winning five matches in a row, the Shockers (10-6) have now lost back-to-back, while UAB (12-9) notches their fourth win in their last five matches.

"It was just a tough day," Head Coach Colin Foster said. "We played too inconsistent in a lot of areas and UAB really did well to capitalize on those opportunities."

The Shock won the doubles point 5-6 UF, 6-3, 6-4. However, only Theodora Chantava was able to prevail at the #3 singles while UAB the #1,#4 and #5 singles in straight sets and the #2 singles in 3 sets to closeout the match at 4-2. Jessci Anzo was up 4-2 in the 3rd set of the #6 singles when that match was abandoned.

Looks like the Shocks lost again on Sunday to $46 Memphis by 4-2 as well

https://goshockers.com/news/2024/3/31/womens-tennis-no-58-shockers-drop-ranked-bout-to-no-46-memphis.aspx