Women win ninth straight MVC Tournament, men lose in semifinals

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Sam Belsan

The women’s tennis team clinched the MVC regular season championship title. (File photo)

In their final Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in school history, the women’s tennis team ended their legacy in the conference with their ninth straight tournament title. The men fell short in the semifinals.

In women’s play, the No. 1 Shockers (ranked No. 49 in ITA) blew past their first two opponents to easily reach the championship matchup.

WSU played Stony Brook on Friday winning 4-0.

The pairs of Marta Bellucco/Giulia Guidetti and Fatima Bizhukova/Gabriela Porubin defeated Ana Rodriguez/Amanda Foo and Elizabeth Tsvetkov/Yana Nikolaeva respectively (6-2 and 6-2).

After claiming the doubles point, Bizhukova, Porubin and Guidetti quickly swept up the singles points to end the match. Bizhukova defeated Ester Chikvashvili (6-1, 6-0), Porubin defeated Nadia Smergut (6-4, 6-2) and Guidetti defeated Tsvetkov (6-4, 6-1).

On Saturday, the women’s team went up against No. 4 Evansville. The Shockers won 4-0.

Wichita State took the first two matches in doubles and claimed the point. Bizhukova/Porubin defeated Chieko Yamada/Theodora Soldatou (6-1) and Tanaporn Thongsing/Ting-Ya Hsu defeated Diana Tkachenko/Nicoli Pereira (6-0).

In singles, Bizhukova beat Pereira (6-0, 6-0), Porubin defeated Daria Pentsova (6-3, 6-1) and Hsu won against Andrea Pascual-Larri (6-0, 6-2).

The Shockers cruised past Southern Illinois in the championship match to win 4-0.

WSU’s Bizhukova/Porubin beat Meagan Monaghan/Vitoria Beiroa (6-1) and Thongsing/Hsu defeated Xiwei Cai/Ana Sofia Cordero (6-2) to claim the doubles point.

WSU claimed the first three singles matches to earn their ninth-straight tournament championship.

Guidetti beat Cai (6-0, 6-2), Bizhukova defeated Athena Chrysanthou (6-0, 6-1) and Porubin beat Monaghan (6-0, 6-0).

The women’s team ended the season undefeated in conference play (7-0) and 18-8 overall. The tournament win earns the Shockers an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

In men’s play, the No. 3-seeded Shockers faced No. 2-seeded Southern Illinois on Saturday and lost 4-2.

The WSU duo of Andrea Caligiana/Eddie Stoica defeated Michal Kianicka/Daniel Martinez (7-6), but the Shockers lost the other two doubles matches and SIU claimed the doubles point.

Wichita State won the first two singles matches. Stoica played a strong game and beat Martinez in two sets (6-1, 6-2). Murkel Dellien faced a slight opposition from Alex Pozo but won in two sets as well (6-2, 6-4).

The men’s team ended the season with a 13-13 record.