THIS WEEK: The Washington State Tennis team (5-2) returns home from a five-match stretch away from Hollingbery Fieldhouse when it hosts Montana, Saturday, Feb. 24 at Noon . The first 30 fans to arrive will receive free sandwiches.
 
SCOUTING MONTANA: The Griz enter the weekend with an 0-6 record. Montana begins its road trip in  Lewiston Friday, for a dual against Lewis-Clark State (3-4) before heading north to take on the Cougars Saturday.
 
FOLLOW LIVE: For all Cougar home tennis matches at Hollingbery Fieldhouse, live video streams of each match can be found HERE while live scoring is available HERE.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Cougars snapped a two-match skid as it defeated Portland State, 7-0 in Portland, dropping just two sets in the process.
 
NEXT UP: Following this weekend's match, the Cougars return to the road as it takes the short drive to Spokane to face Gonzaga, Friday, Mar. 1 at 3 p.m. from the Stevens Center.  
 
HOLLINGBERY RENOVATION: The Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse underwent a renovation in December of 2023. A new playing surface was installed along with branded backdrops around the four courts.
 
COUGS OFF TO FAST START: A few Cougars are off to fast starts in the dual season:

• Junior Elyse Tse is a team-leading 7-0 in singles play this spring
• Tse and partner Eva Alvarez Sande are 6-1 at the No.1 doubles spot
• Sophomore Yura Nakagawa is 6-1 at the No. 2 singles position

 
ITF CIRCUIT SUCCESS: Cougar Tennis players made an impression on the ITF circuit over the 2023 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. Most recently, in December of 2023, Tse and Kumhom reached the doubles semifinals at the 15k Wellington, New Zealand event.
 
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2023-24 season the Cougars will have one new player accompanying the seven returners. The roster consists of seniors Fifa Kumhom and Hania Abouelsaad, juniors Maxine Murphy and Elyse Tse, along with sophomores Eva Alvarez Sande, Yura Nakagawa and Tiffany Phout. Freshman Martina Markov joins the Cougar lineup this season.
 
COACH RAQUEL ATAWO: Raquel Atawo is in 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 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.