The Wichita State women’s tennis team fell in its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2018 on Saturday afternoon.
A 4-1 loss against No. 25 Southern Methodist at the Headington Family Tennis Center in the Norman Regional concluded a historic season for the Shockers, highlighted by a 19-match win streak, a runner-up finish in the American Conference Championship, three all-conference selections in Theodora Chantava, Xin Tong Wang and Giorgia Roselli, and a conference player of the year-winning season from Wang.
Wichita State was unable to replicate its 4-2 victory over SMU on Jan. 19.
First-year head coach Jacob Eddins said the Shockers, even with the season-ending loss, are right where they want to be going forward.
“This is where we want to be every year, competing for an American Conference championship and making the NCAA Tournament, whether that’s by winning the conference or getting an at-large bid,” he said.
“This is kind of the vision I had for the program and this group,” Eddins added.
The Shockers won their highest number of games since the 2015-16 season and have spent the last 11 weeks within the top 40 teams ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
But on Saturday, the previous results weren’t enough.
Anne Knuettel and Vichitraporn Vimuktananda secured the win on doubles court No. 3, 6-3, but Wichita State couldn’t build on the momentum. The No. 46-ranked duo of Wang and Roselli fell on court No. 1, 6-3, before Chantava and Kristina Kudryavtseva dropped a 7-5 decision that gave SMU the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead.
Starting singles, Kudryavtseva fell 6-4, 6-2, extending the Mustang lead to 2-0. Shortly after, Vimuktananda secured the Shockers’ first point of the match with a 6-4, 6-0 victory, cutting SMU’s lead in half.
Chantava, who is the 97th-ranked individual player in the country, fell on court No. 3 after three sets after winning the second, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1, putting SMU back up by two, 3-1.
The final WSU player to fall was Wang on court No. 1, 6-3, 6-4.
The Shockers now head home after delivering one of the most successful seasons in recent memory, setting a new standard for the program.
“It’s obviously a special group,” Eddins said. “They’re a great foundation of players to build the program around moving forward.”
