Shocker women’s tennis wins sixth consecutive MVC regular season title

Wichita State women’s tennis defended their home court and their title when they defeated University of Northern Iowa 7-0 on Friday and Drake 4-3 on Saturday.

The weekend included the final home matches for seniors Montse Blasco-Fernandez, Veronika Blaskova and Satjaporn Mahajaroenkul.

“I can’t explain how I feel right now,” Blasco-Fernandez said. “All I can say is that it’s been awesome to be a Shocker and represent this school.”

Blaskova echoed those same sentiments.

“What an amazing senior weekend,” she said. “I am thankful for every moment I’ve had as a Shocker.”

Wichita State started the weekend against the UNI Panthers, and the team was able to win on every court they set foot on. Julia Schiller/Abby Stevens won 8-1 in their doubles match, and the Shockers won the doubles point with an 8-4 win from Blaskova/Lucia Kovalova.

Blaskova doubled the Shocker lead with a 6-1, 6-2 win and was followed off the courts by Schiller and Rebecca Pedrazzi to clinch the match for WSU.

“It was really emotional today,” Blaskova said. “Tough matches on every court, but we played in a great atmosphere because of all the fans.”

Saturday’s match against Drake was a hard-fought win that was even closer than the final score indicated.

The team was once again able to win the doubles point with wins from all three duos.

Pedrazzi won her match 6-1, 6-1 to give WSU a 2-0 lead. Schiller wore her opponent down with a 7-5 first set win, before completing her match with a 6-0 second set win to put the Shockers a single win away from clinching the match.

Blaskova was happy to contribute and won her match 6-4, 6-0 to give WSU the win, not a moment too soon.

The remaining Drake players all pushed their matches to third sets, and all three women won their matches to reach the final score of 4-3.

“The seniors have had an amazing four years here,” Kovalova said. “I will truly miss them on the team, but we need to concentrate on the MVC tournament, because our seniors deserve to end their Shocker careers as winners.”

With the regular season title in tow, the Shockers have set their sights on the MVC tournament held in Normal, Ill., Friday through Sunday.