Fresh off winning its fourth consecutive Missouri Valley Conference title, the Wichita State women’s tennis team is preparing for the start of its fall season.

The quest to defend that title begins with its singles match at the Drake Invite on Sept. 14.

“We’ve got a challenging fall individual schedule and it’s a great chance to see where we stack up against the conference,” WSU coach Colin Foster said. 

Foster is faced with the task of integrating three new players onto his team, two of which are from Europe.

“They’re acclimating well,” Foster said. “Once they’re into practice I know that they’re going to do well.”

Another challenge the Shockers face is replacing Lutfiana Budiharto and Delia Damaschin, who played number one and two all last season.

“On paper that looks like a big hole to fill, but at the same time we had all conference performers at number three, four, five and six,” Foster said. “We’ve shown that we have the depth and any one of those players can step up.”