Four out of the 10 championship matches Sunday at the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Tennis Individual Championship were claimed by Wichita State. The closest teams to WSU were Southern Illinois and Illinois State with two championship titles each.

“Last year we won seven titles here, so it shows the rest of the conference is getting better, but we are still the team to beat,” WSU coach Colin Foster said.

Although WSU took four first-place titles, the Shockers played in six of the 10 matches.

WSU had most of its success in the higher flights in the tournament. Foster said the reason for this is the loss of last year’s two top players.

“I think our strength on paper is lower in the lineup, but certainly we would have liked to been in the finals and do better in the top three flights,” Foster said. “Our players know that they can play with any of the players that won those top three flights, so even though we didn’t win this weekend in any of those positions, I believe that we’ve got the talent to do well all through the lineup.”

Doubles team Satjaporn Moahajaroenkul and Montse Blasco Fernandez won first place in the third flight doubles championship game 8-4 over Drake’s Mariel Ante and Maddie Johnson.

“It was a good win. I think we were a little nervous in the beginning because it was a home match and with our fans watching you want to play your best,” Fernandez said. “We fought in the beginning when it was tied and we got a good lead and kept it.”

Moahajaroenkul didn’t allow Illinois State’s Stefanie Youngberg to win a single game, and defeated her 6-0, 6-0 in the fifth flight singles match. Fernandez beat Drake’s Maddie Johnson in a three-set battle, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. The match did not finish until long after Moahajaroenkul’s, which was one court over.

“I was up 3-0 in the first set, then I kind of relaxed and she came back and made it tough,” Fernandez said. “I was playing well, but then I started playing not so well so it was tough, then there was a long tie break that I lost, so I took a break and went to the bathroom and just focused and said ‘OK, I can do it.’”

Freshman Rebecca Pedrazzi defeated Illinois State’s Kadi Ilves 6-4, 6-1 in the fourth flight for singles, shortly after losing the second flight doubles championship game with partner Carla Venticinque.

“(Pedrazzi has) come in and bought in to the whole team philosophy, and she’s willing to work hard and get better every day,” Foster said. “She had a pretty good tournament —she won pretty easily in all of her singles matches. I know they were disappointed about the doubles today, but credit Southern Illinois on that one.”