THIS WEEK: After a three-week break, Washington State tennis (7-2) returns to Hollingbery Fieldhouse with a doubleheader, taking on Gonzaga (6-0) at 11 a.m., and North Dakota (3-6) at 3 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 28.
LAST TIME OUT: The Cougars traveled to Houston for matches against Prairie View A&M, No. 51 Houston and No. 28 Auburn. On Feb. 5, WSU kept up its undefeated season sweeping Prairie View A&M, 7-0. Maria Biryukova, Lize Leenknecht, Donika Bashota and Nastia Vasyukhina all posted wins to remain undefeated on the season. The next day, Leenknecht and Bashota continued their hot streak but Washington State struggled against Houston, falling for the first time on the season, 5-2. On the final day of the road trip, the Cougars fell 6-1 to Auburn. The only victory came off a 6-1, 7-6 (4) victory by Luzina at No. 2.
ALL-TIME AGAINST GONZAGA: Washington State looks to remain undefeated against the Bulldogs as the Cougars hold a 17-0 edge all-time. The last time the two teams faced off came in 2013, when the No.35 Cougars posted a convincing 6-1 victory in Pullman.
ALL-TIME AGAINST NORTH DAKOTA: UND enters the week with a 3-6 record. The Cougars will face North Dakota for the first time in the program history.
ITA POLL: After three weeks off, Washington State has been bumped out of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll. The last time WSU wasn’t ranked during the dual match season came Feb. 15 of last season when WSU squared off against No.65 San Diego. The Cougars went on to win the match 5-2. This season Washington State reached a high of No. 52.
THREE WEEK BREAKS: The last time the Cougars had a 21-day gap between matches came in 2002. The Cougars defeated two-ranked teams, No. 44 San Diego State, 4-3, Feb. 3, and No. 59 Oregon, 6-1, Feb. 24.
COACH HART: Lisa Hart is in her 12th season as the head coach of Washington State. The 7-2 record improves Hart to 148 accumulated wins, the most in school history, during her tenure.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2014-15 season the Cougars will have three new faces to go with four returners. The returning roster includes senior Elizaveta Luzina, juniors Lize Leenknecht and Maria Biryukova, and sophomore Victoria Matejevic. New to the squad this season are freshmen Donika Bashota, Holly Monahan and Nastia Vasyukhina.
LAST SEASON IN REVIEW: Washington State finished off dual match play with an 18-10 overall record and 3-7 in conference play in 2014. The 18 wins were the second-most in school history as the Cougars finished seventh in a very competitive Pac-12 conference that had the top nine teams finishing with national rankings. WSU entered the national rankings at No. 59 in mid-February and remained ranked the remainder of the season, reaching a high of No. 45 the week of the Oregon match.
COVERAGE: Fans can follow the Cougars all season long with live stats at www.wsu.statbroadcast.com.
PARKING AT HOLLINGBERY: Fans coming to Cougar Tennis matches this season can park in the Yellow 1 parking lot located directly south of Beasley Coliseum. There will not be any charge for parking on weekends, and daily passes can be purchased for weekday contests. Another option for tennis fans to park would be the Library Garage. The garage costs $3 for the entire day to park on either a Saturday or Sunday.
--wsucougars.com--
