Washington State University Athletics
Cougars Open Play with Doubleheader
January 13, 2016 | Tennis
FOLLOW LIVE:
THIS WEEK: THIS WEEK: Washington State returns to the court to open its 2016 dual season Friday, Jan. 15, hosting Montana State (0-0) and Idaho (0-0) in a doubleheader. The match against Montana State begins at 11 a.m. with free coffee and doughnuts along with the first 50 fans receiving tennis thermos. Idaho is slated to follow at 5 p.m. with free pizza for fans in attendance. The matches will be held at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse.
LAST TIME OUT: The Cougars opened the 2016 season at the Maui Invitational. The four-team tournament, which included WSU, Missouri, No. 27 Texas Tech and host Hawaii, consisted of singles and doubles matches. The tournament was highlighted by a strong start from Donika Bashota, who won her first two matches. Bashota posted a 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Hawaii's Cindy Nguyen and then defeated Brianna Lashway of Missouri 7-6, 6-4. She fell in the championship match to No. 77 Gabriela Talaba of Texas Tech, 6-2, 6-2. Trang Huynh needed three sets in her opening day victory over Cassidy Spearman of Missouri 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, while she finished off the tournament defeating Hawaii's Roxanne Resma 7-5, 6-1.
COUGARS GARNER ITA RANKINGS: Sophomore Donika Bashota earned a No. 83 national ranking in the first spring ranking of the season. She also came in with a No. 6 Northwest Region ranking 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 Huyhn, who arrives in Pullman after transferring from Troy, and 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 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.
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).
PARKING AT HOLLINGBERY: Fans coming to Cougar Tennis matches this season can park in the Yellow 1 parking lot located directly south of Beasley Coliseum. There will not be any charge for parking on weekends, and daily passes can be purchased for weekday contests. Another option for tennis fans to park would be the Library Garage. The garage costs $3 for the entire day to park on either a Saturday or Sunday.
Players Mentioned
