Wichita State women’s tennis takes aim at history in American tournament
History is waiting for Wichita State women’s tennis in Houston.
The Shockers enter this weekend’s American Conference tournament as the No. 1 seed, carrying a 17-match winning streak that has already tied the longest in program history. One more win would set a new school record and three more would do even more, securing the first American title in program history and sending WSU back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
WSU finished the regular season 19-3, good for a .864 winning percentage that ranks as the fifth-best regular season in program history. The Shockers have not lost a match since Jan. 24. Along the way, WSU beat SMU, Iowa State, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Kansas State and Creighton, a list of power-conference wins that helped push the Shockers to No. 28 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, making them the second-highest rated team in the country outside the power structure.
And maybe the wildest part is how quickly it all had to come together.
Jacob Eddins was hired on Sept. 15 after longtime coach Colin Foster stepped down to become director of tennis at Wichita Country Club. There was no long runway for a smooth transition. Four days into the job, Eddins was already on a plane to North Carolina with two players for the first tournament of the fall. He had inherited a veteran roster, but also the challenge of taking over a program built by the most successful coach in school history right as the season was beginning.
“We had some questions about what the upside could look like,” Eddins said. “I knew this was a program that could be in that at-large territory and compete for a conference championship and climb the national rankings. But it was about putting the pieces in the right place and getting the girls to believe in what they’re trying to do.”
That belief became one of the defining themes of the season.
Eddins said the first priority was not tactics or lineups, but trust. He was taking over a team recruited by someone else, one with returning veterans who had spent years in the program under Foster. So before WSU could reach this level, Eddins felt like he had to get to know his players as people and establish the kind of bond that would make everything else work once the matches started to matter.
“You build that trust with one another, then we started to establish how we wanted to work on the court,” Eddins said. “What is the expectation every day at practice? How do we compete? Once we figured that out, then we had a little bit more of a plan in place for the girls. It gave us a little bit more structure.”
The timing may have been rushed, but the roster was not short on experience.
WSU essentially returned its entire lineup from a team that went 13-10 last season. Junior Xin Tong Wang, junior Giorgia Roselli, senior Kristina Kudryavtseva, senior Theodora Chantava, senior Tatyana Nikolenko and senior Anne Knuettel all came back. The key addition was Central Arkansas transfer Vichitraporn Vimuktananda, who brought top-lineup experience and ended up becoming a major luxury deeper in WSU’s order.
That veteran base has turned into one of the deepest and steadiest lineups Wichita State has had in years.
Wang is 11-3 at No. 1 singles. Roselli is 12-1 at No. 2. Chantava is 12-2 at No. 3. Vimuktananda, filling in mostly on the back end of the lineup, has gone 16-1. That gives WSU four players who have been nearly untouchable in dual play, which helps explain why the Shockers have had so much sucecss this season. Eddins said the players who have made the biggest strides this season are Chantava and Vimuktananda, growth he has noticed both tactically and mentally.
The doubles point has become an even bigger advantage.
Wichita State has won 77% of its doubles matches in duals this season, giving the Shockers an early edge before singles even begins. Roselli and Wang, the reigning American doubles champions, have grown into one of the best pairings in the country. In their third year together, they are 11-2 this season and ranked No. 34 nationally after peaking inside the top 10 earlier this spring.
“To have two players at their level at the top of our lineup has really elevated the program,” Eddins said. “With them, we probably sometimes take that doubles point for granted. That gives us so much momentum going into singles and we feel like we always have a chance to win at the top of the lineup with them.”
That has been one of the defining traits of this team. WSU does not just beat opponents with one star or one dominant court. The Shockers squeeze matches from the very start, grab momentum in doubles and then keep coming with answers throughout the singles lineup.
Eddins pointed to an early trip to Iowa as the breakthrough, when WSU beat Iowa State and Iowa on back-to-back days. That weekend was the beginning of the streak, but also the moment when the Shockers started to see how high their ceiling might be. Another turning point came at home against Kansas on Feb. 8, when the match was tied 3-3 and Vimuktananda was left on court in a third set at No. 5 singles with the entire match on her racket. She won 7-5 to give WSU a dramatic win over another top-40 opponent. Then there was a 4-3 road win over Rice, another top-50 team and a conference opponent, the kind of result that further validated Wichita State’s place among the best teams outside the sport’s traditional heavyweights.
All of it has created a résumé that extends beyond this weekend.
Even if the Shockers do not win the automatic bid in Houston, WSU appears to be in strong position for an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament based on its body of work. That alone would mark a major breakthrough for a program that has not been back to the NCAA field since 2018. The Shockers own 12 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances, but only two NCAA Tournament wins.
This team may have the chance to add to both totals.
That is why this season has resonated beyond wins and rankings. It feels like the return of a program to the level it expects.
WSU has long been a successful women’s tennis program. Jay Louderback helped bring the program its first conference championships in the 1980s. Les Stafford oversaw four conference titles in a 16-year run. Chris Young guided the Shockers to three Missouri Valley titles and three NCAA appearances. Foster then took the baton and built another powerhouse, leading WSU to eight straight Valley titles and eight straight NCAA Tournament appearances during one stretch. But since moving to the American, the Shockers had not advanced past the quarterfinals of the conference tournament and had not been back to the NCAA Tournament since 2018.
This team now has a chance to change that story.
It is a roster with international players from China, Italy, Russia, Greece, Thailand, Kazakhstan and Germany. It is also, in many ways, a homegrown one. Wang, Roselli, Chantava, Knuettel and Kudryavtseva have all spent their entire college careers at WSU. Nikolenko transferred in from Miami in 2024 and is now in her second season with the Shockers. Vimuktananda arrived after Central Arkansas discontinued its program and has turned into one of the most important additions of the season. Together, they have given Wichita State a connected lineup that looks every bit like a championship team.
“These girls really do deserve all of the credit,” Eddins said. “Honestly, the streak isn’t something we’ve ever talked about. It wasn’t like we made 17 or 18 in a row our goal. It’s just kind of fallen into place. But I will say that this group would be super deserving if we do end up breaking the record because this is a special, special group.”
And now the opportunity is right in front of them.
Wichita State will face either UAB or Temple on Friday in Houston. A win would give the Shockers the longest winning streak in program history. Keep winning after that and they can do something no WSU women’s tennis team has ever done in the American.
“This group is really motivated to try to be the first team to win an American championship,” Eddins said. “They feel like they’re competing for something bigger than themselves. They’re fighting for their teammates, their coaches, for Wichita State. So they’re playing for more than just themselves and they’ve just got a really, really competitive spirit. As a coach, you want to know what you’re getting. And right now we know we have six who are going to lay it all out there on the court every time out.”
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