(March 6, 2025) THIS WEEK: The Washington State Tennis team (9-5) returns to Pullman to face Portland State Friday, March 7, in a Noon match at the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts. The match marks the first home contest for WSU on the outdoor courts. Free snacks will be provided for fans in attendance.
 
FOLLOW LIVE: For all Cougar home tennis matches at the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts, live scoring is available HERE.
 
SCOUTING PORTLAND STATE: Portland State enters the match with a 3-3 record, having won its past two contests. Most recently, the Vikings have defeated Weber State (4-3) and Idaho State (5-2), both at home. Senior Nika Beukers leads the way with a 4-1 dual record, all at the No. 1 position.
 
COUGARS IN NATIONAL RANKINGS: In the latest ITA rankings, released March 4, WSU sits at No. 47 after reaching a season-high of No. 45 in late February. The Cougars' No. 1 doubles team of Eva Alvarez Sande and Maxine Murphy, who entered the rankings for the first time this season in late February at No. 88, skyrocketed up the charts and are currently No. 34 nationally.
 
COUGAR NOTES:

• The doubles team of Eva Alvarez Sande and Maxine Murphy were named the WCC Doubles Team of the Week, Feb. 25, following a weekend sweep of nationally-ranked teams from Baylor (#7) and TCU (#24). It marked the second time this season the Cougar duo earned the conference honor.
• Redshirt-junior Maxine Murphy has a team-best 11-3 dual record in singles, all coming at No. 2 singles
• The Cougars are 12-0 all-time against Portland State

 
COUGARS TO PLAY IN WEST COAST CONFERENCE: For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, the Cougars will be an affiliate member of the West Coast Conference. When conference realignment impacted the Pac-12 Conference following the 2023-24 season, Cougar Tennis was one of 10 WSU athletic programs to become WCC affiliate members. The membership status will be for two years until the Pac-12 resumes full-membership status beginning with the 2026-27 season.
 
LAST TIME OUT: WSU dropped a narrow, 4-3, decision at current No. 40 TCU in Waco, Texas.
 
NEXT UP: Following Friday's match against Portland State, the Cougars are off until March 22 when they head to Spokane to face Gonzaga in the opening of West Coast Conference play.
 
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2024-25 season, the Cougars have three freshmen to accompany the six returners. The roster consists of seniors Hania Abouelsaad and Elyse Tse, juniors Maxine Murphy, Eva Alvarez Sande, Yura Nakagawa, sophomore Martina Markov and freshman Chisato Kanemaki, Martina Puvill and Madhu Satishbabu.
 
COACH RAQUEL ATAWO: Raquel Atawo is in her fourth 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 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.