BOISE, Idaho – The Washington State women's tennis team opened its fall season on a high note, sweeping all 11 singles matches on the first day of play at the Jack Taylor Classic Friday afternoon.
In the tournament's hidden dual format, in which no team scores are kept, the Cougars opened play with three doubles matches against Montana. At No. 1, WSU's Elizaveta Luzina and Lize Leenknecht had little trouble with Hannah Sulz and Cam Kincaid, winning 6-1. At No. 2 the Cougar pair of Donika Bashota and Victoria Matejevic posted a 6-3 win over Sasha Carter and Catherine Orfanos while WSU completed the sweep when Maria Biryukova and Holly Monahan defeated Christy Scott and Anabel Carbo, 6-2. A fourth doubles match was played that saw Boise State's Bobbi Oshiro and Sammie Watson defeat WSU's Grace Lymer-Sullivan and Nastia Vasyukhina 6-0.
In singles play the Cougars faced the singles lineup from Weber State and posted straight-set wins in each match. At No. 1 Luzina defeated Agata Bachanek, 6-2, 7-5 while Biryukova defeated Kristi Elmer, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2. Leenknecht followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Dominique Beauvais at No. 3 while Bashota picked up her first collegiate singles victory with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Lauren Schulte at No. 4. At No. 5 Victoria Matejevic earned a 6-0, 6-1 win over Carly Lloyd and Monahan closed out the day with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Megan Rindlisbacher at No. 6. Matejevic and Monahan joined Bashota in recording their first collegiate singles victories.
In two additional singles matches, Cougar freshmen Lymer-Sullivan and Vasyukhina picked up the first wins of their Cougar career. Lymer-Sullivan rallied from 5-1 down in the third-set tiebreaker to defeat Boise State's Kaitlyn Brown, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6) while Vasyukhina fought off a match point in the second set to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-0 over Boise State's Naomi de Hart.
The Cougars continue play Saturday at the Jack Taylor Classic with singles matches against Boise State and doubles play against Weber State. Play begins at 9 a.m. PT.
--wsucougars.com--
