(April 17, 2025) THIS WEEK: The No. 61-ranked Washington State Tennis team (14-7 overall, 4-2 in WCC play) returns home to host No. 44 San Diego and Santa Clara to close out the Cougars home schedule. WSU hosts NO. 44 San Diego Friday, April 18 at 11 a.m. The Cougars will face Santa Clara on Saturday, April 19 at 10:45 a.m. as part of Senior Day. Both matches will be held at the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts.
 
SENIOR DAY: Prior to Saturday's match against Santa Clara, Cougar Tennis will recognize the contributions seniors Hania Abouelsaad and Elyse Tse have made to the program during their time in Pullman.
 
FOLLOW LIVE: Live scoring for this weekend's matches can be found at wsu.statbroadcast.com.
 
SCOUTING SAN DIEGO: San Diego enters Friday's match with a 10-8 overall record, 5-0 in West Coast Conference play. The Toreros are coming off a 4-3 win over No. 26 Pepperdine, their first win over the Waves in 13 years, which clinched the program's first WCC regular season title. The win was also the fifth-straight for the program. The Toreros are led by Kailey Evans, who is ranked No. 27 nationally, while Claudia De Las Heras is ranked No. 99. The doubles team of De Las Heras and Evans are ranked No. 47. San Diego leads the all-time series, 10-4.
 
SCOUTING SANTA CLARA: The Broncos enter Friday's match at Gonzaga with an 8-10 record, 2-2 in WCC play. Santa Clara has won its last two outings, defeating Saint Mary's and Pacific. WSU leads the all-time series, 8-1.
 
COUGARS IN NATIONAL RANKINGS: In the latest ITA rankings, released April 15, WSU sits at No. 61 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 to No. 34 nationally and enter the match at No. 45.
 
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 earned a 4-2 road win at Portland.
 
NEXT UP: Following Saturday's match against Santa Clara, the Cougars head to San Diego to begin play Thursday at the 2025 West Coast Conference Championships.
 
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.