THIS WEEK (February 7, 2020): Washington State Tennis (4-1) continues its four-match homestand as it hosts Gonzaga and Eastern Washington, Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The Gonzaga match begins at Noon with the Eastern Washington match set for 6 p.m.
 
SCOUTING GONZAGA: The Gonzaga Bulldogs enter the week with a 3-3 record, having posted wins over Idaho and Eastern Washington last Saturday.  Sophomore Vlada Medvedcova owns a team-leading 11-4 record and is 3-2 at No. 4 this season in dual matches. Freshman Cate Broerman is 2-2 at No. 1 for Gonzaga this season. Washington State leads the all-time series, 19-1, with the Bulldogs capturing a 5-2 decision last year.
 
SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON: Eastern Washington enters the match with a 2-2 record, with its two victories coming against Whitworth and Seattle.  posted wins over Idaho and Eastern Washington last Saturday.  Junior Zoey Nelson is 2-2 at No. 1 for the Eagles this season. Washington State leads the all-time series, 35-2, including a 7-0 Cougar victory last season.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Washington State posted a 5-2 victory last weekend against BYU. Freshman Pang Jittakoat was the lone Cougar to secure both singles and doubles wins, clinching the match with a straight-set victory at No. 5.
 
UP NEXT: Washington State is off next weekend before returning to Hollingbery Fieldhouse Thursday, Feb. 20 when it hosts Fresno State.
 
COUGARS IN ITA RANKINGS: Following the latest release of the ITA Tennis Rankings, senior Melisa Ates remains ranked while junior Michaela Bayerlova makes her 2020 ranking debut. Bayerlova, who has finished each of her first two seasons in the Top 50, enters at No. 79 this week. Bayerlova did not play a collegiate match in the fall but with two ranked wins this spring, breaks into the field. Ates, who started 2020 at No. 103 has risen to a career-best 91.
 
ATES CLIMBING WINS LIST: Senior Melisa Ates enters the weekend with 84 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 225-189 (.544) record her tenure, finishing last season with a 19-11 record and a third trip to the NCAA Championships.