2017-18 Shocker Women's Tennis

[1972Shocker]

#5 singles going to a 3rd set. So all 4 remaining singles are in the 3rd set.

#4 singles goes to Nebraska as they extend their leas to 3-1. Shocks need to win all 3 of the remaining singles. All 3 are very close.

[WuDrWu]

Got 1 at the #6. The other 2 are on serve in the 3rd although Fatima MAY have broken, she leads 4-3.

Fatima actually breaks at 4-3 and serves for the match at 5-3.

But we're in deep at the #5, Marta is down a break at 3-2 and frankly isn't playing well.

[WuDrWu]

Fatima wins the #1 6-4 in the 3rd.

Marta got one break back and serves at 3-5. Needs to hold and then break again to stay alive.

Tough loss in a match that WSU should have won handily. 4-3 Nebraska.

[1972Shocker]

Lady Shocks ranked #30 in the Top 50 Oracle/ITA Team Rankings.

Fatima Bizhukove is #71 and Sandra Honigova is #106 in the Top 125 Oracle/ITA Singles Rankings.

Based on the current rankings the Shockers 12 of the Shockers 23 matches this season are agaisnt Top 50 teams.

So far they are 2-3 in Top 50 matches beating #33 Florida International (4-2) in Lubbock and #38 Arkansas (4-1) in Fayetteville and losing to #8 Texas Tech (0-4) in Lubbock, #37 North Carolina State (3-4) in Wichita and #42 Nebraska (3-4) in Lincoln.

Top 50 teams reamining on the schedule are:

02/23/18 #49 Missouri in Columbia
03/02/18 #15 Kansas in Lawrence
03/03/18 #41 Gonzaga in Lawrence
03/17/18 #29 Tulsa in Tulsa
03/30/18 #13 Oklahoma State in Stillwater
04/13/18 #35 Kansass State in Wichita
04/15/18 #28 Uinversity of Central Florida in Wichita

So only 3 of the 12 Top 50 matches will be at home, 2 on neutral courts and 7 on the road.

#28 UCF, #29 Tulsa and #30 Wichita State are the only ranked AAC teams at this point. Shocks play both Tulsa and UCF head-to-head prior to the AAC Championships. You might want to mark your calendars for the final weekend of the regular season for the KSU and UCF matches in Wichita on April 13th and April 15th.

BTW, UCF is playing Tulsa in Tulsa on April 13th followed by the match in Wichita vs the Shocks. Interesting and perhaps intelligent schedule with the AAC Championships just a few days later in Dallas.

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks swept Colorado today 7-0 at the Wichita Country Club to move to 10-3 on the season. However, the match was probably more competitive than the final score might indicate. Looks like this was a good, solid win for the Lady Shocks.

[WuDrWu]

We aren't 7-0 are we? I know we lost to Nebraska last weekend....maybe the flu destroyed my mind more than I thought.

[1972Shocker]

Sorry. Shocks mover to 10-3 on the season against a pretty good schedule.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers move up to #21 in the national polls as their tough scheduling is paying off in terms of ranking points.

Fellow AAC members UCF fell to #36 and Tulsa fell to #41.

Oracle/ITA Team Rankings

Up next for the Shockers is #20 Kansas in Lawremce this Friday.

[1972Shocker]

Pre-Match notes for Shockers at #20 KU and vs Gonzaga in Lawrence on Friday evening and Satruday afternoon.

http://goshockers.com/news/2018/3/1/womens-tennis-no-20-ku-gonzaga-await-shockers-in-lawrence.aspx

[1972Shocker]

Shocks and KU tied at 2-2

Shocks won the doubles point and Gabriela won the #5 singles. KU dominated in the #1 and #2 singles.

The 3 remaining singles are in 3rd sets.

[1972Shocker]

Shocks are down 2-5 in #6 singles and up 5-2 in #4 singles and up 4-2 in #3 singles.

[1972Shocker]

KU wins #6 singles 6-2. Giulia takes #3 singles 6-3.

Tied at 3-3 with #4 singles to decide the match.
The Shocks' Marta Belluco up 5-4.

Now it goes to 5-5. Come on Marta.

KU now up 6-5.

6-6 now. A tiebreaker will seal the deal.

[1972Shocker]

What a heartbreaker. Marta loses the tiebreaker 10-12 to give KU 4-3 win. I suppose it is what you would expect between #20 and #21.

Great effort Shocks!

http://goshockers.com/news/2018/3/2/womens-tennis-no-20-kansas-edges-past-shockers.aspx?path=wten

[1972Shocker]

After the heartbreaking loss to KU last night the Lady Shocks had to get back up for a dual match with Gonzaga (for the 1st time ever) this afternoon in Lawrence. Gonzaga is a good opponent. They were ranked #41 last week but fell out of the Top 50 this week,

It wasn't easy as the Shocks prevailed 4-3 in another pretty intense match.

http://goshockers.com/news/2018/3/3/...aspx?path=wten

After the Shocks won the important doubles point the two teams split the 6 singles matches with Gonzaga winning the #1, #4 and #6 matches and the Shocks taking the other 3. All 3 of the Shocker singles matches went 3 sets with Guilia and Gabriela coming back for win after losing the 1st set.

Hard to say but I suspect there was some not so positive hangover from the loss to KU last night. But the bottom line is the Shocks toughed it out and pulled out another nice win. I think Marta Bellucco, in particular, was effected by her match deciding 3rd set tiebreaker loss to KU as she was swept 0-6, 0-6 in #4 singles. Hopefully she will bounce back.

The Shocks move to 11-4 on the season against a very good schedule.

[1972Shocker]

Not sure the Lady Shocks often get a roadie to Hawaii in March when the weather here absolutely sucks but they are in Manoa, Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Wahine in a match Wednesday at 7:30 pm Wichita time.

The Shockers only fell a couple of spots in the ITA Rankings to #23 after their tough loss to Kansas while the Jayhawks vaulted from #20 to #15. BTW, Tulsa moved from #41 all the way up to #26.

I'm sure the Shocker baseball and softball teams would not have mind trading them places today. I suspect it is a little bit unusual for the Lady Shocks to a road trip to Hawaii to play a single match. These Ladies deserve such a reward considering the extended success they have achieved. Hope they have some time to enjoy the islands.

http://hawaiiathletics.com/news/2018...uc-irvine.aspx

http://goshockers.com/news/2018/3/6/...in-hawaii.aspx

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks make their trip to Hawaii even more enjoyable with a 6-1 win over the Rainbow Wahine as the move to 12-4 on the year.

http://goshockers.com/news/2018/3/7/womens-tennis-no-23-wsu-glides-to-a-6-1-win-over-hawaii.aspx

[1972Shocker]

The Lady Shocks picked up a 4-2 win over North Texas in Rancho Mirage, CA on there way back from Hawaii to move to 13-4 on the season.

http://goshockers.com/news/2018/3/10...texas-4-2.aspx

The #23 Shocks can now try to shake off the jet lag as they prepare to take on #26 Tulsa this Satruday at 2:00 pm in a match that could very well determine the ultimate winner of the Havoc in the Heartland Trophy for 2017-18.

Updated team rankings are due out tomorrow.

Updated rankings: Shocks at #27 and Tulsa at #32.