THIS WEEK: The Washington State Tennis team (7-13, 0-9 Pac-12) concludes its regular dual match season when it visits No. 22 Washington, Saturday, April 22, Noon at the Bill Quillian Tennis Stadium in Seattle.
FOLLOW LIVE: Follow the Cougars at Washington with live video and stats HERE.
SCOUTING WASHINGTON: Washington brings a 15-7 record, 4-2 in Pac-12, into Saturday’s match. The Huskies are looking to snap a four-match skid, all coming against ranked teams. Senior Hikaru Sato is the top-ranked player, checking in at No. 107 nationally, while the duo of Sato and Erika Matsuda are ranked No. 65. Washington leads the all-time series, 50-13, though the Cougars won back-to-back meetings at the end of last season.
LAST WEEK: Washington State dropped matches at No. 30 California (6-1) and No. 11 Stanford (4-1). Freshman Eva Alvarez Sande picked up WSU’s lone win at Cal while sophomore Hania Abouelsaad picked up at win at Stanford.
NEXT UP: Washington State will compete at the 2023 Pac-12 Championship, April 26-29, in Ojai, Calif. The tournament bracket will be released over the weekend.
DOUBLES DUO EARNS NATIONAL RANKING: The doubles pair of freshman Eva Alvarez Sande and sophomore Elyse Tse has found great success since teaming together midway through the season. The pair has posted a 9-2 record this year, going 4-2 at No. 1 and 5-0 at No. 2. After defeating the nation’s 11th-ranked team from Arizona State last month, the Cougar duo entered the national rankings at No. 38 and are currently No. 50.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2022-23 season the Cougars will have three new players to accompany the six returners. The returning roster consists of fifth-year senior Yang Lee, junior Fifa Kumhom and sophomores Hania Abouelsaad, Stefaniia Mikhailova, Maxine Murphy and Elyse Tse. Joining the Cougar tennis program this year are freshmen Eva Alvarez Sande, Yura Nakagawa and Tiffany Phout.
COACH RAQUEL ATAWO: Raquel Atawo is in her second season as head coach of the Cougars after being named to the position July 2, 2021. In Atawo’s first year leading Washington State Tennis, the Cougars showed great improvement throughout the season, finishing with a, 8-15 record, but posted back-to-back wins late in the season over nationally-ranked Washington. Atawo arrived in Pullman having spent the 2021 season as the assistant coach at Auburn and prior to…
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