THIS WEEK: Washington State Tennis (9-3) returns to Pullman to open Pac-12 Conference play as it hosts Colorado, Friday at 1:30 p.m. The weekend concludes as the Cougars host Utah Sunday at 10 a.m. Both matches are scheduled for the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The Cougars enter the match ranked No. 39 while Colorado is unranked and Utah is 44.
 
SCOUTING COLORADO: Colorado enters the match with an 8-4 record, having won three of its last four matches. The Buffs are 2-2 when playing on the road this season and coming off a victory over Minnesota in its last outing. The Colorado duo of Monica Malinen and Sara Nayar are No. 64 in the national rankings.
 
SCOUTING UTAH: The Utah begin the week ranked No. 44 in the ITA Rankings. They boast a 10-3 record, having won its previous four matches prior to Friday's Pac-12 opener at Washington. Utah and WSU have played one common opponent this season, with the Cougars defeating Denver 4-0 while Utah won 4-2. Utah's No. 1 doubles team of Madison Tattini and Whitney Hekking are ranked No. 12 nationally.
 
LAST TIME OUT: WSU posted a 4-2 victory over UC Santa Barbara, rebounding from a 4-3 loss at No. 32 San Diego the day prior.
 
UP NEXT: WSU returns to the road as it travels to Texas to face Rice Mar. 15 and Houston Mar. 17.
 
COUGARS IN ITA RANKINGS: Following the latest release of the ITA Tennis Rankings, the Cougars rose four spots from No. 43 to No. 39. Junior Michaela Bayerlova continues to rise up the singles rankings, from 79 in the initial rankings to 63 and this week checks in at a season-best 46.
 
NET NOTES:

• Senior Melisa Ates enters the weekend with 89 career singles victories, 7th on WSU's all-time list. Next up is one-time record holder and former assistant coach Ekaterina Burduli at 90.
• Junior Michaela Bayerlova is off to a strong start to the dual season. She has won her first 11 dual matches, 10 of those in straight sets. The 11-straight wins are tied for the fifth-longest in school history to start a season and the second-longest in Bayerlova's career, having won 20-straight during her freshman campaign.
• Freshman Pang Jittakoat is 8-0 in dual matches this season

 
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 for matches played in Hollingbery Fieldhouse.
 
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 229-191 (.545) record her tenure, finishing last season with a 19-11 record and a third trip to the NCAA Championships.