THIS WEEK: Washington State Tennis (6-1) concludes its four-match homestand as it hosts Fresno State, Thursday, Feb. 20 at Noon at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The Cougars enter the match ranked No. 35 and riding a three-match winning streak.
 
SCOUTING FRESNO STATE: Fresno State enters the match with a 6-3 record, having won its last five matches. Fresno State leads the all-time series, 13-4, though the Cougars have won the last two meetings.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Washington State posted 4-1 and 7-0 victories Feb. 8 vs. Gonzaga and Eastern Washington, respectively. Both matches came at home and in the Gonzaga match, WSU was leading in the two matches on court when play was stopped.
 
UP NEXT: Washington State heads east for a pair of matches in New York. The Cougars travel to face Ivy League foe Columbia, Sunday, Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. PT, followed by a Monday matchup at Fordham at 8 a.m. PT. The matches are the first in the series against the two schools. Columbia enters this week 6-2 overall, having won its last four matches. Fordham begins the week at 2-5.
 
COUGARS IN ITA RANKINGS: Following the latest release of the ITA Tennis Rankings, senior Melisa Ates remains ranked while junior Michaela Bayerlova improves from her 2020 ranking debut two weeks ago. Bayerlova, who has finished each of her first two seasons in the Top 50, moved up 16 spots from two weeks ago to a season-best No. 63. Ates, who started 2020 at No. 103 and rose to a career-best 91 two weeks ago, has moved to No. 107 this week.
 
ATES CLIMBING WINS LIST: Senior Melisa Ates enters the weekend with 86 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.
 
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 can be found at wsucougars.com.
 
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 227-189 (.546) record her tenure, finishing last season with a 19-11 record and a third trip to the NCAA Championships.