THIS WEEK: No. 73 Washington State (17-8, 2-6 Pac-12) is back on the road to close out Pac-12 regular season competition against No. 55 Washington (12-0, 3-6 Pac-12) Friday, April 15. Match time is set for 12:30 p.m. and will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
LAST TIME OUT: No. 73 Washington State fell in both matches last weekend against Pac-12 foes No. 1 California and No. 18 Stanford. On Friday, Sophomore Donika Bashota defeated No. 12 Klara Fabikova, but the Golden Bears went on to a 6-1 victory over WSU. On Saturday, Bashota knocked off No. 78 Caroline Doyle and freshman Aneta Miksovska notched a win against Stanford's Kimberly Yee, but the No. 19 Cardinal posted a 5-2 win over the Cougars.
COUGARS RANKED IN ITA POLL: Boasting a 17-8 record, Washington State checks in at No. 73 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll. WSU reached a high of No. 40 earlier this season.
BASHOTA GARNERS PAC-12 HONOR: Sophomore Donika Bashota was named the Pac-12 Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week for April 4-10. Bashota recorded two of the biggest upsets of her collegiate career last weekend, defeating No. 12 Klara Fabikova of California and No. 78 Caroline Doyle of Stanford. In Friday's match against Cal, Bashota provided the only Cougar victory as she fought off three-straight match points down 9-6 in the third-set tiebreaker for a 6-7, 6-0, 1-0 (11-9) win. In closing out the last five points of the match for the victory, she recorded the biggest win of her career and defeated the highest-ranked opponent by a Cougar player since the 2010 season. Bashota followed that up with another three-set win, this time over Stanford's Doyle. After splitting the first two sets, Bashota dominated the 10-point tiebreaker, taking the final seven points of the match, winning 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-2). Bashota is the first Cougar to receive Player of the Week honors since Elizaveta Luzina did so Feb. 18, 2014.
BASHOTA MAKES HISTORY: Sophomore Donika Bashota recently cemented her place in the Washington State tennis record books. With a total of 36 victories, Bashota moved past Elisabeth Fournier (2012) on the single-season singles wins list. She passed her 31 wins from last season, which was a WSU freshman record. Furthermore, Bashota's 36-8 record, including a 19-6 mark in dual matches, passed Liudmila Vasilieva (2011-12) for the second-best start in school history.
RECORD WATCH: Senior Maria Biryukova's win over #66 Kassidy Jump of Arizona State moved her into a tie for sixth on the WSU all-time wins list. She sits even with Andjela Kankaras (2009-13) and Erica Perkins (1998-02) on the list. The Moscow, Russia, native has accrued 87 victories at Washington State, needing only three more wins to tie Ekaterina Burduli (2004-08) for fifth on the all-time wins list.
SINGLE-SEASON WINS WATCH: Along with sophomore Donika Bashota, three other Cougars have entered the WSU single-season victories record book. Seniors Maria Biryukova and Trang Huynh have both accrued 30 victories this season. Biryukova matches her win total from last season. Biryukova and Huynh both move into a tie for fifth on the list. With a win last weekend, freshman Aneta Miksovska has garnered 29 victories on the year and moved into a tie with Elizaveta Luzina (2014) for sixth on the list. Miksovska passed Ekaterina Burduli (2008), Erin Majury (1983), Ksenia Googe (2012), and current teammate Victoria Matejevic, who won 28 matches last season. With two more victories, Miksovska will match current teammate Donika Bashota's 31 victories from last season, which is a WSU freshman record.
ALL-TIME AGAINST WASHINGTON: Washington State will square off against Washington for the 56th time since 1978. The Cougars are 11-44 all-time against the Huskies.
COUGARS IN THE REGIONAL RANKINGS: Sophomore Donika Bashota earned a No. 71 national ranking in the latest ITA poll. This marks her highest ranking in the poll since coming in at No. 83 in the first ITA poll of the season. In the first regional rankings of the year, Donika Bashota was named the No. 6 Northwest Regional player after finishing the 2015 fall season with a 15-1 record. Senior Trang Huynh garnered a No. 15 regional ranking following her first fall season of competition posting an 11-6 record.
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 Huynh, who arrives in Pullman after transferring from Troy, along with freshmen Barbora Michalkova and Aneta Miksovska.
COACH HART: Lisa Hart is in her 13th season as the head coach of Washington State. Hart has accumulated 171 wins over her tenure. In 2012, the Cougars went 19-7 as Hart was awarded the Pac-12 Conference Women's Tennis Coach of the Year award.