Cougars Head to Bay Area for Top 20 Matchups
 
THIS WEEK: The Washington State Cougars (17-5, 2-3) travel to California to face the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears, top 20 teams in the current ITA rankings. WSU begins the tip at No. 5 Stanford, Friday at 1:30 p.m. at the Taube Family Tennis Courts. That match will be followed by a Saturday contest at No. 19 California at noon at the Hellman Tennis Center.

ABOUT STANFORD: Stanford is ranked number 5 in the most recent ITA rankings. The Cardinal enter the match with a record of 14-1, 5-0 in Pac-12 play. Stanford has a 57-3 record in its last 60 home matches and features seven singles players ranked in the Top 100 of the ITA singles rankings. It also has four teams ranked in the top 40 in doubles.

ABOUT CALIFORNIA: California enters the week with a record of 9-5, 3-2 in conference action. The Cougars defeated Cal last season at the Pac-12 Championships, the first win over the Golden Bears since the 2002 season. Cal leads the all-time series, 21-2.

LAST TIME OUT: The Cougars picked up their second Pac-12 win of the season with a 6-1 victory over Arizona Sunday at the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts. It marked the second-straight victory over the Wildcats.
 
UP NEXT: Following the trip to the Bay Area, the Cougars return home to face top 11 teams UCLA (#8) and USC (#11).

ROAD WARRIORS: Washington State is 22 matches into the season and Friday's match at No. 5 Stanford marks the 15th match the Cougars have played on the road. With trips to Missoula, Mont., Stanford, Calif., Waco, Texas, West Lafayette, Ind. Spokane, Manhattan, Kan., Lincoln, Neb., Salt Lake City, Boulder, Colo. and Fresno, Calif., WSU will return from California having travelled more than 12,232 miles.
 
ITA RANKINGS: Washington State University women's tennis team is ranked No. 36 in the most recent ITA rankings. Earlier this year, WSU has held rankings of 35 (March 26), 33 (March 19), 36 (March 12), 28 (March 5), 31 (Feb. 26) and 15 (Feb. 19). The No. 15 ranking was the highest in program history. Additionally, Sophomore Michaela Bayerlova moved to No. 57 in the singles rankings, down from No. 51 two weeks prior. Entering the doubles rankings two weeks ago  were WSU's No. 1 duo of Tiffany Mylonas and Hikaru Sato, at No. 71. This week they fell down to No. 75.
 
MIKSOVSKA CLIMBING CAREER WINS LIST:  Cougar senior Aneta Miksovska enters the week with 93 career victories, in fourth place on the all-time wins list, one ahead of Ksenia Googe. Next up on the list is Elizaveta Luzina with 105 victories.
 
FIRST SERVES:

• WSU freshman are a combined 53-20 (.726) in singles play this season
• WSU is 15-0 when winning the opening doubles point.
• Michaela Bayerlova is WSU's highest-ranking player at No. 57 in the most recent ITA Rankings. The Cougars sophomore is 4-2 against nationally-ranked players
• WSU tennis has had three players ranked this season, Bayerlova, Tiffany Mylonas and Melisa Ates
• Mylonas has the longest current winning streak on the team at four matches

 
COACH HART: Lisa Hart is in her 16th season as the head coach at Washington State. Hart has accumulated a WSU career record of 218-182 (.545) over her tenure, finishing the 2018 season with a 21-7 record.
 
HOW TO WATCH: For all home matches at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse, fans can watch live at wsucougars.com. Live stats are also available at wsu.statbroadcast.com.