HOUSTON – The No. 28 Auburn Tigers were too much to handle as the No. 57 Washington State Cougars dropped their second match of the season, 6-1, wrapping up its Houston road trip, Saturday at the John E. Hoff Tennis Courts.

During the third and final day of the road trip, the Cougars found themselves behind early after losing the opening doubles point.

The No. 2 duo of Donika Bashota and Victoria Matejevic dropped a hard fought battle to Reka Muller and Jen Pfeifler, while No. 3 Nastia Vasyukhina and Maria Biryukova also lost 6-4 to Paula de Man and Michala Kucharova.

Elizaveta Luzina and Lize Leenknecht at No. 1 found themselves tied at 5-5 against Pleun Burgmans and Emily Flickinger, the nation's third-ranked doubles team, before Auburn clinched the doubles point and play was suspended.

In singles play, No. 1 Biryukova looked to get the Cougars on the board but ran into trouble early dropping the first set 6-3 to Burgmans, ranked No. 36 nationally. In the second set, Biryukova found herself in a back-and-forth duel before being bested in the tiebreaker, rounding off a 6-3, 7-6 (5) loss.

Luzina won WSU's only match of the afternoon after jumping out fast then holding on for a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory over Flickinger at No. 2.

No. 3 Leenknecht and No. 4 Bashota both put their win streaks on the line against a strong Auburn team but came up short falling to their respective opponents. Leenknecht squared off against Dikosavljevic but was defeated 6-1, 6-3. After surrendering the first set 6-2 to Muller, No.4 Bashota came back to win a 7-5 second, tying the match at one set apiece. With the team match already decided, a 10-point tiebreaker was played in place of the third set with Muller coming away with the 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5) victory.

No. 5 Matejevic came up short to de Man, 6-2, 6-3, while Vasyukhina could not overcome a slow start in falling to Pfeifler, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6.

Washington State tennis team returns to the court on Saturday, Feb. 28 to host regional opponent Gonzaga at 11 a.m. and North Dakota at 3 p.m.

DOUBLES:
1. No. 3 Pleun Burgmans / Emily Flickinger (AU) vs. Lize Leenknecht/Elizaveta Luzina (WSU) 5-5, DNF
2. Reka Muller / Jen Pfeifler (AU) def. Donika Bashota/Victoria Matejevic (WSU) 6-4
3. Paula de Man / Michala Kucharova. (AU) vs. Maria Biryukova/Nastia Vasyukhina (WSU) 6-4

SINGLES:
1. No. 36 Pleun Burgmans (AU) def. Maria Biryukova (WSU) 6-3, 7-6(5)
2. Elizaveta Luzina (WSU) def. Emily Flickinger (AU) 6-1, 7-6(4)
3. Andie Dikosavljevic (AU) def. Lize Leenknecht (WSU) 6-1, 6-3
4. Reka Muller (AU) def. Donika Bashota (WSU) 6-2, 5-7, 10-5
5. Paula de Man (AU) def. Victoria Matejevic (WSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Jen Pfeifler (AU) def. Nastia Vasyukhina (WSU) 6-1, 6-4

--wsucougars.com—