Wichita State women’s tennis played Southern Illinois and Evansville in a Saturday double-header at Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex on the WSU campus. WSU beat Southern Illinois 7-0 and Evansville 7-0.

“We’re tired both physically and mentally,” said senior Montse Blasco-Fernandez, “We did a good job adjusting to the windy conditions. It made us play smarter.”

WSU started the morning with doubles against SIU winning at all three doubles positions; Lucia Kovalova/Veronika Blaskova won at the No. 1 position, 8-4, Rebecca Pedrazzi/Blasco-Fernandez won at the No. 2 position, 8-7, and Julia Schiller/Abby Stevens won, 8-6.

The Shockers were able to take their early 1-0 lead into singles and ride the momentum. Blaskova was able to double the Shocker lead with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles position making her the first Shocker off the courts.

Blasco-Fernandez pushed the WSU lead to 3-0 when she won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. Kovalova who won 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 3 singles clinched the match.

“We knew we were stronger in singles,” said Blasco-Fernandez, “We had to focus on what we could control because the wind didn’t allow us to play pretty tennis.”

After the match was clinched Stevens and Schiller won their matches 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-2 respectively.

The SIU match was ultimately wrapped up with a win from Pedrazzi 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).

“It was great to play at home,” said Pedrazzi, “We had so many matches away from Wichita, but the support we have from the fans make us feel great.”

Wichita State faced Evansville in the evening match of their double-header and they faced little opposition from the Purple Aces. WSU won the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Kovalova/Blaskova won 8-1 and Stevens/Schiller won 8-5.

Blaskova was once again the first singles player off the court as she skunked her opponent 6-0, 6-0. Stevens put the Shocker up 3-0 with a 6-0, 6-1 win of her own and the match was clinched with a 6-1, 6-1 win from Kovalova.

The only Shocker to drop a set was Schiller at the No. 1 position, but she pulled out her match 6-3, 2-6, 12-10 to end the tiring day of tennis for WSU.

“We’re excited and ready to play our next two matches at home,” Pedrazzi said. “We’ve got our eyes set on the regular season championship.”

Wichita State tennis continues their season next weekend April 18-19 when they face UNI and Drake at Sheldon Coleman Tennis Complex.