Washington State University Athletics
Cougars Set to Host WSU Invitational
October 01, 2015 | Tennis
THIS WEEK: The Cougars continue their 2015 fall season as they host the WSU Invitational, Oct. 2-4, at the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts. The tournament is comprised of four singles and two doubles flights. Play begins at 10 a.m. Friday.
LAST TIME OUT: At the 2015 BYU Invitational, Donika Bashota captured her second-straight tournament title with a three-set victory over Teal Vosburgh of Boise State, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. In the singles consolation flight, senior Lize Leenknecht needed just two sets to defeat Boise State's Nancy Menjivar, 6-1, 6-4. Leenknecht won four-straight matches in the back draw, all in straight sets, to capture the flight. In the doubles flight, Leenknecht and Bashota captured the doubles title by defeating BYU's Toby Miclat and Taylah Beckman, 6-2.
BASHOTA OFF TO FAST START: Donika Bashota is off to a quick start to the 2015-16 campaign. The sophomore from Lidkoping, Sweden, is 9-0 in singles play, having won both the Cougar Classic and BYU Invitational titles. She has also teamed with Lize Leenknecht to win a pair of doubles titles in those same tournaments, posting a 7-0 record along the way.
WSU INVITATIONAL FIELD: Joining Washington State in the WSU Invitational field will be Oregon, Portland, Boise State and Idaho.
WSU INVITATIONAL DRAWS SET: The draws for the WSU Invitational include two players from participating schools in each of the dour draws. WSU will have Maria Biryukova and Donika Bashota in the Crimson Flight, Trang Huynh and Barbora Michalkova in the Gray Flight, Aneta Miksovska and Lize Leenknecht in the Cougar Flight and Holly Monahan and Victoria Matejevic in the WSU Flight. Doubles will see Bashota/Matejevic and Leenknecht/Huynh in the Crimson Flight and Biryukova/Monahan and Michalkova/Miksovska in the Gray Flight.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2015-16 season the Cougars will have three new faces to go with five returners. The returning roster includes seniors Maria Biryukova and Lize Leenknecht, junior Victoria Matejevic, and sophomores Holly Monahan and Donika Bashota. New to the squad this season are senior Trang Huyhn, who arrives in Pullman after transferring from Troy, and freshmen Barbora Michalkova and Aneta Miksovska.
LAST SEASON IN REVIEW: Washington State finished off dual match play with a 13-12 overall record in 2015. The Cougars finished 11th in a competitive Pac-12 conference that had the top nine teams finishing with national rankings. WSU started the spring season national ranked at No. 52 and remained in the ranking through February. Departed from last year's squad is Elizaveta Luzina (26-22 singles record), number three all-time on WSU career singles victories list, and Nastia Vasyukhina (18-24).
COACH HART: Lisa Hart is in her 13th season as the head coach of Washington State. Hart has accumulated 154 wins over her tenure, registering a 13-12 record last season. In 2012, the Cougars went 19-7 as Hart was awarded the Pac-12 Conference Women's Tennis Coach of the Year award.
Players Mentioned
