Yura Nakagawa 2023 vs. Oregon
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Cougars Head to Bay Area to Face Cal, Stanford

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THIS WEEK: The Washington State Tennis team (7-11, 0-7 Pac-12) continues a five-match road stretch when it visits No. 30 California, Friday, April 14 in Berkeley at 1:30 p.m.  WSU concludes the weekend at No. 11 Stanford Saturday in Stanford at 11:30 a.m.
 
FOLLOW LIVE: Follow the Cougars at California with live video HERE. At Stanford, live stats and video are HERE.
 
SCOUTING CALIFORNIA: California brings a 9-7 record, 5-2 in Pac-12, into Friday's match. The Bears have won four of their last five matches, including their last three Pac-12 contests. Sophomore Jessica Alsola is the team's highest-ranked player at No. 48, while the doubles team of Alsola and Katja Wiersholm are ranked No. 9 nationally. Cal leads the all-time series, 25-2.
 
SCOUTING STANFORD: The Cardinal bring a No. 11 national ranking into the weekend, and sit atop the Pac-12 standings at 7-0. Stanford has won its past 12 matches entering Friday's contest vs. No. 19 Washington. Stanford is led by sophomore Connie Ma, ranked No. 14, while the doubles team of Angelica Blake and Alexis Blokhina are ranked No. 28. Stanford leads the all-time series, 36-0.
 
LAST WEEK: Washington State dropped matches at No. 70 Colorado (5-2) and No. 60 Utah (6-1). Freshman Eva Alvarez Sande picked up WSU's lone win Sunday against Utah.
 
NEXT UP: Washington State concludes its dual-match schedule by traveling to Seattle to face No. 19 Washington, Saturday at Noon.
 
DOUBLES DUO EARNS NATIONAL RANKING: The doubles pair of freshman Eva Alvarez Sande and sophomore Elyse Tse has found great success since teaming together midway through the season. The pair has posted an 9-0 record this year, going 4-0 at No. 1 and 5-0 at No. 2. After defeating the nation's 11th-ranked team from Arizona State last month, the Cougar duo entered the national rankings at No. 38 and are currently No. 53.
 
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2022-23 season the Cougars will have three new players to accompany the six returners. The returning roster consists of fifth-year senior Yang Lee, junior Fifa Kumhom and sophomores Hania Abouelsaad, Stefaniia Mikhailova, Maxine Murphy and Elyse Tse. Joining the Cougar tennis program this year are freshmen Eva Alvarez Sande, Yura Nakagawa and Tiffany Phout.
 
COACH RAQUEL ATAWO: Raquel Atawo is in her second season as head coach of the Cougars after being named to the position July 2, 2021. In Atawo's first year leading Washington State Tennis, the Cougars showed great improvement throughout the season, finishing with a, 8-15 record, but posted back-to-back wins late in the season over nationally-ranked Washington. 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 a No. 10 world ranking in doubles.
 
FOLLOW THE COUGARS: Keep up with Washington State tennis by following @WSUCougarTennis on Twitter, @wsucougartennis on Instagram, and Washington State Cougar Tennis on Facebook.

 
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