THIS WEEK: Washington State Tennis continues its 2023 fall season this weekend as they travel to Eugene, Ore. to participate in the 2023 Duck Invitational, Oct. 6-8 at the Oregon Student Tennis Center.
 
2023 OREGON DUCK INVITATIONAL: There are four teams competing in the Duck Invitation include Washington State, Portland, Portland State and host Oregon. The format for the tournament includes doubles against one opponent and singles against another each day. The schedule is as follows:
 
Friday, Oct. 6
9 a.m. –          Oregon vs. Portland – Doubles
                        WSU vs. Portland St. – Doubles
9:45 a.m. –    Oregon vs. WSU – Doubles
                        Portland vs. Portland St. – Doubles
11 a.m. –       Oregon vs. Portland State - Singles
1 p.m. –         WSU vs. Portland - Singles

Saturday, Oct. 7
9 a.m. –          Oregon vs. Portland St. – Doubles
                        WSU vs. Portland – Doubles
9:45 a.m. –    Oregon vs. WSU - Singles
Noon –           Portland St. vs. Portland - Singles

Sunday, Oct. 8
9 a.m. –         WSU vs. Portland State - Singles
11 a.m. –       Oregon vs. Portland – Singles
 
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2023-24 season the Cougars will have one new player to accompany the eight returners. The returning roster consists of senior Fifa Kumhom, redshirt-junior Hania Abouelsaad, juniors Stefaniia Mikhailova, Maxine Murphy and Elyse Tse, along with sophomores Eva Alvarez Sande, Yura Nakagawa and Tiffany Phout. Freshman Martina Markova joins the Cougar lineup this season.
 
FALL SCHEDULE: In addition to the Duck Invitational, the remaining events on Washington State's Fall schedule include ITA Northwest Regionals (Oct. 12-15), the Gonzaga Invitational (Oct. 27-29) and the ITA National Fall Championships (Nov. 1-5).
 
STRONG SUMMER FOR COUGAR TENNIS: Cougar Tennis players made an impression on the ITF circuit over the summer as Eva Alvarez Sande, Elyse Tse, Fifa Kumhom and Hania Abouelsaad all played tour events. Elyse Tse reached a career-best ranking of 1,024 as she was 7-4 over the summer, reaching the quarterfinals of the W15 Caloundra event in Australia. Playing mainly in Spain and Portugal, Eva Alvarez Sande reached the main draw in four summer ITF tournaments while Fifa Kumhom found success on the doubles court, reaching the semifinals of one event and the finals of the W15 Nakhon Si Thammarat tournament in Thailand.
 
COACH RAQUEL ATAWO: Raquel Atawo begins her third season as head coach of the Cougars after being named to the position July 2, 2021. Atawo arrived in Pullman having spent the 2021 season as the assistant coach at Auburn and prior to that, spent 15 years on the WTA Tour, where she reached at No. 10 world ranking in doubles.