(February 8, 2024) THIS WEEK: The Washington State Tennis team (4-1) concludes its five-match road swing by facing Portland and Portland State this weekend. The Cougars first faces Portland Friday, Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. That match will be played at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The following day, Saturday, WSU will meet Portland State at Babette Horenstein Tennis Center. That match is set for 11 a.m.
 
SCOUTING PORTLAND: The Pilots enter the match with a 3-2 record, coming off a 7-0 victory at Bryant last Sunday. Senior Iva Zelic leads the team with a 5-0 dual match record at the No. 1 singles spot. The Cougars lead the all-time series with a 14-0 mark.
 
SCOUTING PORTLAND STATE: The Vikings enter the match with a 2-2 season record, with wins over Linfield and Academy of Art. WSU holds an all-time series mark against the Vikings, 11-0.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Cougars dropped their first match of the season falling 5-2 to Baylor in Seattle.  Junior Elyse Tse captured both her singles and doubles matches, while sophomore Yura Nakagawa also captured he singles match.
 
NEXT UP: Following this weekend's match, the Cougars return home to face the University of Montana Saturday, Feb. 24 at Noon.
 
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.
 
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.