Wichita State women’s tennis wants depth to pay off in NCAAs

Wichita State won the lone women’s NCAA championships tennis match in Missouri Valley Conference history in 2007 with a team led by dominant No. 1 player Madina Rakhim.

The Shockers are back in position to show optimism with a team built on depth and a tough schedule. Third-seeded WSU (24-3) plays second-seeded Georgia Tech (16-9) at 11 a.m., Friday in the NCAA Championships first round in Gainesville, Fla. WSU is ranked No. 36 nationally, falling three spots from the previous week, by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and Georgia Tech is No. 24.

The Shockers are underdogs with a chance.

“We were hoping to get up to a No. 2 seed,” WSU coach Colin Foster said. “We got jumped by a couple of teams at the end of the year. We’ve proven we can compete with those top 25-level teams.”

Foster, WSU’s coach since 2009, considers this his best team. It boasts the program’s highest postseason ranking since the 2007 Shockers rose to No. 35 before defeating South Carolina 4-3 in the first round.

The Shockers lost to Oklahoma 4-2 last year after five NCAA shutouts against top seeds. A spring playing ranked teams and another year of experience gives WSU a chance to change that trend on Friday. It went 4-3 against the NCAA field, defeating No. 39 Arkansas 4-3, No. 48 Tulsa 4-3 and No. 55 Fresno State 5-2. It lost 4-3 to No. 19 Pepperdine and 4-0 to No. 16 Texas Tech. In those losses, WSU pushed hard before losing the doubles point and that depth is uppermost on Foster’s mind.

No. 1 singles player Julia Schiller is 20-11 and teams with freshman Gabriela Porubin at No. 2 doubles, where they are 24-7. Porubin is 26-5 at No. 2 singles and has won 16 straight matches. No. 3 Rebecca Pedrazzi was the Missouri Valley Conference champion at No. 1 singles in 2013 and the balance continues through No. 4 Abby Stevens (31-6), No. 5 Lucia Kovalova (22-7) and No. 6 Aleksandra Trifunovic (30-4).

“There’s no holes in our lineup,” he said. “We’re just as good at the top as we’ve been. The middle and bottom parts of the lineup has been really strong, especially against those teams a little bit behind us.”

Georgia Tech finished sixth in the ACC before losing to Virginia 4-0 in the tournament championship. The Yellow Jackets won the doubles point in 19 of 25 matches, including against No. 3 Georgia, No. 12 Viringia and No. 19 Oklahoma. Freshman Page Hourigan is ranked No. 48 nationally and earned an individual spot in the NCAA Championships with a 16-7 record. Since video is scarce, Foster’s scouting consists of talking to coaching friends and preparing to make adjustments once the match starts.

“They’re winning doubles points at a very high clip,” he said.

The winner advances to play either top-seeded Florida (21-3) or fourth-seeded Bethune-Cookman (22-6) at noon Saturday. Champions of the 16 four-team regionals advance to Waco, Texas for the round of 16 starting May 15.

Worth noting — Men’s golfers Alec Heinen and Grant Bennett earned spots on the MVC’s scholar-athlete team. Heinen, a junior from Edmond, Okla., has a 3.81 grade-point average in accounting. Bennett a sophomore from Prosper, Texas, has a 3.44 GPA in sport management. … The Shocker Open track and field meet begins at 1 p.m. Friday at Cessna Stadium.

This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Wichita State women’s tennis wants depth to pay off in NCAAs."