Shocker women’s tennis team travelled to Tulsa, Okla. and faced stiff opposition before starting conference play this week.

Wichita State fell to Tulsa 6-1 to put their record at 11-6, while Tulsa improved to 13-4.

The Shockers dropped the doubles point despite winning the first of the three matches when Rebecca Pedrazzi/Montse Blasco Fernandez won 8-1. Lucia Kovalova/Veronika Blaskova and Julia Schiller/Abby Stevens lost their matches before heading into singles play.

“It was tough losing like that,” Blasco Fernandez said. “Veronika had already won her match, and we had three other matches leading in their second sets, but they turned it around.”

Blaskova evened the match by winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-4. After that win, however, WSU lost the remaining singles matches.

“It was disappointing to lose today,” Blaskova said. “We were really close to beating them, but the girls fought hard on every court.”

Despite the lop-sided end result, the Shockers pushed Tulsa to play three-set matches on four of the six matches.

Even though the match didn’t play out the way they hoped, the team acknowledged it is now time to focus on conference play.

“We’ve had a difficult schedule against tough teams, which has prepared us well for the upcoming conference play,” Stevens said. “The team dynamic is awesome, and I’ve really enjoyed my first year here.”

MVC play begins Saturday when WSU travels to Illinois State and Bradley University.