Washington State University Athletics

Eka Burduli arrived in Pullman in January of 2005 and won her debut match in straight sets, playing in the No. 2 singles position. It marked the only time in her four-year career (2005-08) that Burduli did not play in the top singles spot. Hailing from Tel Aviv, Israel, Burduli made an immediate, and lasting, impact on the Palouse as she won 15 matches that year, including a victory over the nation’s sixth-ranked player. That season spring boarded Burduli to one of the finest careers in Cougar Tennis history, one that produced a program-record 90 singles victories, two trips to the NCAA Singles Championship, three All-Pac-10 Conference selections and three seasons where she finished with a national singles ranking. She concluded her senior campaign with a WSU single-season record 28 victories, the first player in WSU history to register three-straight 20-win seasons, while leading the Cougars to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2002. Equally impressive were Burduli’s academic accomplishments, as she was the recipient of the 2008 WSU Big 10 Senior Award, the 2008 WSU Blankenship Outstanding Student-Athlete Award, WSU’s 2008 Women’s Pac-10 Medal winner and WSU’s 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year nominee. Following graduation Burduli remained in Pullman, spending six seasons as the Cougars’ assistant coach where she completed work on her master’s degree and later finished her doctorate degree, both in psychology.