Wichita State Shockers softball, men’s tennis pick up wins over ranked teams
The Wichita State softball team won its eighth straight game to win the Boerner Invitational in Arlington, Texas, capped by an upset of No. 23 Iowa State, 3-1, in Sunday’s final game.
It was the Shockers’ first win over a ranked team since they beat No. 25 South Florida at Wilkins Stadium in May 2019. Maddison Perrigan’s fifth-inning triple scored two runs and proved to be the difference for WSU (10-2), as Bailey Lange once again delivered in the circle with a complete game.
After sweeping Creighton last weekend, WSU followed it up with five wins in Texas, including a 5-4 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to avenge one of its two losses this season. The Shockers also beat Missouri State (8-1), North Texas (13-2) and Texas Arlington (6-3).
The team’s top hitters this season have been Neleigh Herring (.464 average, three homers, 11 RBIs), Sydney McKinney (.442 average, 11 runs), Addison Barnard (.393 average, six homers, 15 RBIs, 12 runs) and Bailee Nickerson (.375 average, nine runs). Lange (5-0, 0.97 ERA) has been dominant in the circle for the Shockers this season.
Up next WSU hosts South Dakota State for a midweek doubleheader on Tuesday. Game one starts at 3 p.m. at Wilkens Stadium.
Men’s tennis picks up first top-25 win since 1985
For the first time since 1985, the WSU men’s tennis team picked up a top-25 win when the Shockers upset No. 22 Memphis, 5-1, at the Coleman Tennis Complex last Friday.
WSU controlled the middle of the lineup, as Stefan Latinovic (No. 2), Murkel Dellien (No. 3), Nicolas Acevedo (No. 4) and Orel Ovil (No. 5) all won their singles matches to give the Shockers the victory. The Shockers also won the doubles point, led by the All-American duo of Dellien and Marius Frosa and the No. 2 doubles team of Ovil and Luka Mrsic.
WSU will be back in action next week when it travels to Tulsa to face UTSA on Saturday before playing host No. 50 Tulsa on Sunday.
The women’s tennis team finished their Texas trip with a 1-2 record, as the Shockers lost to SMU (4-0) on Friday and UT Arlington (4-0) on Saturday before beating North Texas (4-0) on Sunday. WSU is off until Saturday when it travels to face Oklahoma on the road.
Baseball takes series from Dixie State
Since a 1-3 start to the season, the WSU baseball team has extended its winning streak to four games after its second straight series win, this one over Dixie State. The Shockers won a pitcher’s duel on Friday, 2-1, then exploded for a 15-3 win on Saturday.
Wichita native Corrigan Barlett smashed the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning for the difference in Friday’s 2-1 win. Liam Eddy threw 6 1/3 innings, allowing one unearned run on six hits with eight strikeouts, while Tommy Barnhouse picked up the win in relief.
In Saturday’s win, Garrett Kocis hit a pair of home runs and drove in a career-high seven runs at the plate and Spencer Hynes struck out a career-high 11 batters on the mound in the 15-3 victory. Jack Sigrist, Couper Cornblum, Barlett, Ross Cadena and David VanVooren all finished with two hits in the game, as Cornblum has a pair of triples and three RBI’s.
WSU will travel to Tucson, Arizona next week to play the Arizona Wildcats three times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a Saturday afternoon game against Air Force also sprinkled in.
Volleyball gets swept at home by Memphis
The WSU volleyball team failed to close the door on another conference opponent, as it let a two-set lead disappear in a five-set loss to Memphis in the first match of what would become a weekend sweep.
The Shockers won the first two games, 25-18, 26-24, against Memphis, only to drop three straight close sets, 25-23, 27-25, 15-12, last Friday. Sophomore opposite hitter Sophia Rohling registered a career-high 27 kills in the match and hit .328, while sophomore setter Kayce Litzau posted a career-best 36 assists.
WSU again lost close games the following day, as Memphis won 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 24-26, 26-24) to take two straight from the Shockers. Rohling again led WSU with 16 kills on a .406 hitting percentage, while Brylee Kelly also added 11 kills.
After an 8-0 start, WSU (8-3, 3-3 AAC) has now lost three straight matches and will look to get back on the winning side at Tulane on Friday and Saturday.
Women’s basketball player earns second-team all-conference honors
WSU junior forward Asia Strong was named to the AAC all-conference second team on Sunday after leading the Shockers in scoring (15.4) and also averaging 5.9 rebounds.
The Shockers finished a season constantly interrupted by COVID-19 issues with a 5-11 overall record and a 2-9 record in the AAC. WSU opens the AAC tournament on Monday with a 1:30 p.m. game against Tulsa, a team it just beat 85-77 in overtime in the regular-season finale last week.
This story was originally published March 7, 2021 at 3:11 PM.
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