(April 23, 2025) THIS WEEK: The No. 54-ranked Washington State Tennis team (16-7 overall, 6-2 in WCC play) heads to the 2025 West Coast Conference Tennis Championships, April 24-26, at the Aztec Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif. The Cougars enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed Portland Thursday, April 24 at 10 a.m. The winner of that match will face No. 2 seed San Diego Friday morning at 10 a.m.
 
2025 WCC CHAMPIONSHIPS: The 2025 West Coast Conference Women's Tennis Tournament is set for April 24-26 in San Diego, Calif., at Aztec Tennis Center on the San Diego State campus. Three WCC programs enter the WCC Women's Tennis Tournament in the top-55 of the ITA rankings. No. 27 Pepperdine shared the regular season title with No. 48 San Diego. Washington State, who defeated San Diego last weekend in Pullman, checks in at No. 54. Pepperdine enters the tournament as the top seed due to their ITA ranking, but San Diego earned the WCC title after knocking off the Waves during the regular season. The Toreros will be the No. 2 seed and the Cougars the No. 3 seed. Last season, Pepperdine captured its 10th consecutive WCC Tennis Tournament Championship, defeating San Diego in the championship match. The Waves have won 32 of the last 35 WCC Women's Tennis Tournament titles.
 
FOLLOW LIVE: Live scoring and video for the WCC Championships can be found at wccsports.com.
 
COUGARS SWEEP WCC WEEKLY TENNIS HONORS: Washington State Tennis freshman Chisato Kanemaki and the doubles team of Hannia Abouelsaad and Martina Markov swept the West Coast Conference Singles player and Doubles Team of the Week honors, respectively, the conference announced April 22. Kanemaki had the clinching win in WSU's 4-2 upset over No. 44 San Diego while Abouelsaad and Markov went 2-0 in doubles last week, finishing the WCC regular season with a 7-0 conference record. It marked the first weekly award for each of them.
 
SCOUTING PORTLAND: The Pilots enter the CCC Championships at the No. 6 seed with a 9-9 overall record, 4-4 in WCC play. Portland defeated Saint Mary's and Gonzaga in its last two matches to secure a spot in the championships. Two weeks ago, the Cougars posted a 4-2 victory over the Pilots in Portland. WSU leads the all-time series, 15-1.
 
COUGARS IN NATIONAL RANKINGS: In the latest ITA rankings, released April 22, WSU sits at No. 54 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 WCC Championships at No. 49.
 
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 concluded its regular season with a 5-0 home victory over Santa Clara. Prior to the Santa Clara match, seniors Hania Abouelsaad and Elyse Tse were recognized for their contributions to Cougar Tennis.
 
NEXT UP: Following the 2025 WCC Championships, the Cougars will wait for the 2025 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Selection Show to see its postseason fate. That show takes place Monday, April 28 at 2 p.m. PT on NCAA.com.
 
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.