THIS WEEK: The Cougars will face Minnesota on Friday, Feb. 23 at noon. at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The team will continue play Saturday, Feb. 24 at 11 a.m. against Seattle and 4 p.m. against Eastern Washington. WSU enters the weekend with a 7-1 season record while Minnesota is 7-3, Seattle sits at 2-6 and Eastern 3-3. Last season the Cougars captured a 7-0 victory against Seattle and defeated Minnesota 4-3 in the 2013-14 season in their first and only match against the Gophers. The Cougars hold a 33-2 all-time, 13-0 under Hart, record against Eastern and defeated the Eagles 7-0 last season.
UP NEXT: WSU women's tennis travels to Logan, Utah for a match against Idaho State Thursday, Mar. 4 at 9 a.m. and a second that day against Utah State at 4 p.m. The Cougars continue on Saturday, Mar. 3 at 9 a.m. in Provo, Utah against Brigham Young. WSU has won the last two meetings against BYU.

LAST TIME OUT: After capturing their seventh win of the season against North Texas after a 4-1 victory, the Cougars fell to Kansas State 3-4 garnering their first loss of the season. With these matches Senior Barbora Michalkova saw her career-best win streak snapped at 13 and Freshmen Michaela Bayerlova improved to 13-0 in her collegiate season. The Cougars improved to 3-1 all-time against North Texas and fell to 1-3 against Kansas State.

BAYERLOVA RANKED 34 IN ITA NATIONAL SINGLES: Freshmen Michaela Bayerlova rose to No. 34 in ITA Single rankings following Bayerlova's 6-2, 6-2 straight-set victory against No. 48 Maria Kononova of North Texas. This ranking is the highest since Liudmila Vasilieva was ranked 33 in ITA Preseason Single Ranking in 2012. Bayerlova was No. 54 in the first of 2018 ITA National Singles rankings.

BAYERLOVA NAMED PAC-12 WOMEN'S TENNIS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Michaela Bayerlova was named Pac12's Women's Tennis Player of the Week on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The Pac12 announcement followed her two straight-set victories against Montana State and Iowa. Her win against Idaho's Marianna Petrei, the nation's 39th-ranked player marked the highest-ranked win by a Cougar player since defeating No. 12 Klara Fabikova of California (April 8, 2016). Bayerlova is the sixth player at WSU under Head Coach Lisa Hart to receive player of the week honors.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2017-18 season the Cougars will have two new players to accompany the five returners. The returning roster consists of senior Barbora Michalkova, junior Aneta Miksovska, and sophomores Melisa Ates and Ege Tomey and Guzal Yusupova. The returning players will be joined by junior Tiffany Mylonas and freshman Michaela Bayerlova.

BAYERLOVA CAPTURES TITLE AT ITF CHARLESTON: Freshman Michaela Bayerlova gained her second career title at the ITF Charleston Tournament on Oct. 1. Seeded No. 5, she defeated No. 1 seed Montserrat Gonzalez in the championship match, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Gonzalez entered the tournament with a singles world ranking of 438. With Bayerlova's victory, her world ranking now stands at 629.

COUGARS IN ITA RANKINGS: Bayerlova was ranked No. 3 among freshmen/newcomers in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's preseason rankings and junior Tiffany Mylonas was ranked No. 90 in the ITA preseason singles poll. Bayerlova is the first Cougar to enter the freshman/newcomer rankings since the ranking began in the fall of 2010. Mylonas is WSU's most recent player to be ranked for preseason singles since junior Elizaveta Luzina in 2014.

COACH HART: Lisa Hart is entering her 15th season as the head coach at Washington State. Hart has accumulated 188 wins over her tenure, finishing the last season with a 10-16 record. In 2012, the Cougars went 19-7 as Hart was awarded the Pac-12 Conference Women's Tennis Coach of the Year award.

LIVE STATS/VIDEO: For all home matches, fans wishing to follow the Cougars can go to wsu.statbroadcast.com to get live results. Live video of the Purdue match this week can be found at wsucougars.com.

THINGS TO KNOW:
•The Cougars are a combined 98-20 (.831) in singles matches this season.
•Senior Bara Michalkova's career-best win streak was snapped at 13 against Kansas State.
•Freshmen Michaela Bayerlova improves to 13-0 as a collegian, the third longest winning streak to start a season since 1983.
•Freshmen Michaela Bayerlova is now No. 34 in ITA singles rankings, the highest for a cougar since Liudmila Vasilieva in the 2012 Preseason Single Ranking.
•Junior Tiffany Mylonas continues o lead the team in singles victories with a 19-2 record.