NCAA Championships First Round
#26 SMU (15-7) vs. #34 Wichita State (21-4)
Saturday, May 2 • 11:00 a.m. CT
Norman, Okla. • Headington Family Tennis Center
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SETTING THE SCENE
• For the third time in four seasons, SMU women's tennis will play in the NCAA Tournament as Saturday morning in Norman, Oklahoma, the Mustangs face No. 34 Wichita State for the second time this season.
• The Shockers beat the Mustangs 4-2 in Kansas, back on Jan. 19; however, SMU was without their No. 1 player and ACC Freshman of the Year Amelie Van Impe in that matchup.
• The winner of Saturday's match will advance to play the winner of Kansas and the sixth overall seed and host team, Oklahoma, on Sunday at 2 pm CT. The Sooners and Jayhawks will battle each other after the Mustangs' match against the Shockers.
• SMU looks to win its opening round matchup at NCAAs for the third time in the last four appearances (2011, 2024).
THE SERIES
• The series between SMU and Wichita State is tied at seven matches each.
• The Jan. 19 matchup between the two programs snapped a five-match winning streak by the Mustangs dating back to 2020.
• In neutral-site matchups, the series is even at one match each.
THE OPPONENT
• No. 34 Wichita State brings a 21-4 record into the rematch on Saturday.
• Last time out, the Shockers fell to Rice in the American Conference Championship match, snapping Wichita State's 19-match winning streak.
• The Shockers' other three losses came to Oklahoma, Long Beach State and Oklahoma State in mid and late January.
• Theodora Chantava represents Wichita State in the ITA rankings, marked at No. 97 in Thursday's release. In doubles, Giorgia Roselli and Xin Tong Wang are ranked No. 46 in the latest rankings.
HOT AT THE RIGHT TIME
• Freshman Amelie Van Impe enters NCAAs on a tear, winning each of her last seven matches in singles. Van Impe's last loss was on March 15 at then-No. 14 NC State.
• Her last three wins of her winning streak have been against ranked opponents. She will look to win a fourth consecutive ranked matchup when she faces No. 97 Theodora Chantava on Saturday.
MCKENNA AT NCAAS
• Head Coach Kelcy McKenna was 2-3 in NCAA Tournament matches while being the head coach at Wisconsin.
• McKenna won her first match in each of the last two seasons while with the Badgers.
FAMILIAR TERRITORY
• Associate Head Coach Jose Gracia makes a return to Norman, where he had three separate stints on the coaching staff at OU.
• In his most recent season at OU, Gracia helped guide the Sooners to a Big 12 regular-season title and their first conference title since 1994. Garcia and the Sooners finished runner-up at both the ITA National Team Indoor and the NCAA Team Championships in 2022, ending the year 33-2, 17-0 at home. OU also earned eight top-10 wins and 14 top-25 victories that season, and Gracia was named the ITA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year.
NEW EXPERIENCES
• Caroline McGinley is the only Mustang on this year's roster who has NCAA Tournament experience.
• McGinley was a part of the SMU team that beat Alabama in the first round in 2024 in the Stillwater Regional. As a freshman, she played court two doubles alongside former standout all-conference Mustang Hadley Doyle against the Crimson Tide, winning 6-2 on May 4, 2024.
ALL-ACC STANGS
• Amelie Van Impe was named the ACC Freshman of the Year in honors announced Thursday (April 23) by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Additionally, Van Impe earned a spot on the All-ACC Singles First Team, while junior Caroline McGinley and Van Impe were named to the All-ACC Doubles Second Team.
• The honors mark the first postseason recognition for the program since joining the ACC in 2024.
• Van Impe is the third player in program history to be named conference Freshman of the Year and the first since Hatamoza Shahzoda earned the honor in the CUSA in 2010.
SMU IN THE ITA RANKINGS
• The SMU court one doubles team of Caroline McGinley and Amelie Van Impe enters NCAAs No. 31 nationally. The duo is 15-2 this season, while Caroline McGinley is 18-2 in doubles this spring.
• Van Impe leads the Mustangs at No. 25 in singles, while Sophie Llewellyn also represents SMU in the ITA rankings for singles at No. 88 this week.
• As a team, SMU moved back a spot from No. 25 to No. 26.
MAKING NATIONAL NOISE
• Wichelen, Belgium, native, Amelie Van Impe made national noise on March 1 in the Mustangs' matchup against No. 3 North Carolina with a commanding win over the then-No. 1-ranked player in the ITA, Reese Brantmeier, 6-1, 6-2. The win came after nearly defeating the No. 22–ranked player from Duke on court one two days prior, in a match that went unfinished despite her 7-5, 2-6, 5-4 lead.
• The win propelled Van Impe from unranked to No. 49 in the following ITA singles poll.
• Van Impe has been strong since joining the Mustangs in late January. The freshman is a combined 23-5 on the season in doubles and singles, with a 9-2 record in court one and a 13-2 record in doubles.
LLEWELLYN ADVANCES IN NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
• In her NCAA Championship debut, Llewellyn advanced to the second round of the tournament by defeating Texas A&M's Violeta Martinez 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, before falling to eventual champion Reese Brantmeier in three sets in her next matchup.
• Llewellyn punched her ticket to the NCAA Singles Championships in November after reaching the semifinal round of the ITA Sectional Championships on Saturday.
• Llewellyn became the first Mustang to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships since Marta Lesniak did so in 2011.
• Llewellyn finished the fall season with a 10-4 record.
NEW LOOK MUSTANGS
• Coach McKenna and staff brought six newcomers to the 2026 roster, including five true freshmen and one transfer ahead of her first season on the Hilltop.
• Llewellyn and McGinley are the only two returners to the program from the previous season, while Natalie Stasny transferred in after two seasons at Michigan State.
LET THE MCKENNA ERA BEGIN
• Coach McKenna begins her tenure at SMU after serving as the head coach at Wisconsin since 2017.
• McKenna's tenure at Wisconsin was defined by a dramatic program turnaround. When she arrived in the fall of 2016, the Badgers were coming off a 4-16 season and a winless Big Ten campaign. In her second year, Wisconsin began to show progress, and by her third season in 2018-19, the team posted an 18-6 record, finished second in the Big Ten at 9-2, and earned its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2005.
• By 2023, the Badgers had achieved one of the best seasons in school history: 20 victories (first in 25 years), a No. 11 national ranking at their peak (highest since 1996), and a season-ending No. 22 ITA ranking, along with the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 2002. Under McKenna's leadership, Wisconsin evolved from the bottom of the Big Ten into a nationally respected contender, consistently competing against and defeating top 25 programs.
• Over the last three seasons, McKenna has led the Badgers to a record of 58-21, including three straight NCAA Round of 32 appearances. Last season, McKenna coached Maria Sholokhova to a 2024 Women's ITA All-American Singles Championship, becoming the program's first All-American since 1998 in 2025.
• McKenna and Sholokhova became the first coach-player duo, men's or women's, to both win the ITA All-American Singles Championship.
