THIS WEEK: The Cougars opens their 2020 dual-match season as they host the University of Idaho and Seattle University in a pair of matches Saturday, Jan. 18 at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The Idaho match is scheduled for noon with Seattle to follow at 5 p.m.
 
SCOUTING IDAHO: The Vandals open their 2020 dual match schedule against the Cougars. Idaho returns three seniors and two juniors who played significantly last season. The Cougars own a 32-18 advantage in the all-time series, including a 21-match winning streak entering the match.
 
SCOUTING SEATTLE: The Redhawks enter the match 0-2 after dropping two last weekend to Eastern Washington and No. 14 Washington. The Cougars own a 13-1 advantage in the all-time series.
 
UP NEXT: Washington State begins its dual season by hosting a pair of matches Saturday, Jan. 18 at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The Cougars will open against Idaho at noon and then face Seattle at 5 p.m.
 
ATES CLIMBING WINS LIST: Senior Melisa Ates enters the weekend with 80 career singles victories, 10th on WSU's all-time list. Next up are a trio of players with 87 wins, including Erica Perkins, Andjela Kankaras and Maria Biryukova.
 
LAST WEEK: Washington State began its fall season at the Hawaii Invitational. The non-team scoring format had WSU players competing in one singles and one doubles match each day. Despite the second day of play being rained out, junior Michael Bayerlova had a strong weekend, defeating a pair of nationally-ranked players while also picking up two doubles wins.
 
2019 FALL RECAP: The Cougars' Fall campaign was highlighted by some notable accomplishments. Senior Melisa Ates compiled a 10-1 singles record and an 8-1 mark in doubles play, highlighted by winning the B Flight Singles Title at the Cougar Classic and the Redbird Invite in A Flight Singles. She also defeated No. 24 Julia Rosenqvist of California in straight sets at the ITA Northwest Regional. Sophomore Savanna Ly-Nguyen capped her fall season by competing in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Manila, Philippines. After failing to win a match in 2017 at these same games, Ly-Nguyen reached the finals, capturing the Silver medal. Sophomore Hikaru Sato was another player with a strong fall season, winning two doubles titles along with the A Flight singles title at the Cougar Classic. Junior Michaela Bayerlova spent parts of her fall season competing in professional tournaments in Kansas, California and Canada. In September, Bayerlova reached the Round of 16 at the $15k Lawrence, Kan. event then won two qualifying victories at the $60k Toronto event before falling in first round of the main draw.
 
COUGARS SIGN TWO FOR 2020 CLASS: During the 2019-20 signing period, Head Coach Lisa Hart added two future Cougars with the signings of Hania Abouelsaad and Lunda "Fifa" Kumhom. Abouelsaad, a native of Alexandria, Egypt, has been one of the top juniors in Egypt over the past few years and has a career-best 10.9 UTR. In 2019, she has reached the quarterfinals in four of her last five tournaments, capturing the J5 Cairo title last month, her fourth career International Tennis Federation junior title. She has reached an ITF Junior career-high of 169 in 2018 and is ranked among the top juniors in Egypt. Kumhom, a native of Bangkok, Thailand, has been one of the top juniors in Thailand over the past few years and has a career-best 11.44 UTR. In 2019, Kumhom reached three the semifinals in three singles events, two G2 and one G3, while also captured two doubles titles and reaching the final of a third. She was a member of Thailand's ASEAN School Games and was a reserve for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games team. She holds a career-best ITF junior ranking of 132, achieved early in 2019.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2019-20 season the Cougars will have three new players to accompany the five returners. The returning roster consists of seniors Melisa Ates and Jovana Knezevic, junior Michaela Bayerlova and sophomores Yang Lee, Savanna Ly-Nguyen and Hikaru Sato. Newcomers include freshman Maddie Egan, Pang Jittakoat and Carla Quadflieg.
 
COACH HART: Lisa Hart is in her 17th season as the head coach at Washington State. Hart has accumulated a 221-188 (.540) record her tenure, finishing the last season with a 19-11 record and a third trip to the NCAA Championships.