Cougars Open Season Friday Against Montana State
THIS WEEK: The Cougars begin their 2014 dual match season as they host a pair of matches Friday, Jan. 17 at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. The first match begins at 10 a.m. as the Cougars host Montana State followed by a match against Idaho at 5 p.m. Last season the Cougars defeated Idaho, 7-0, and did not face Montana State. WSU leads the season series against Montana State, 15-10, including a current 10-match winning streak dating back to the 1993 season. The Cougars own a 26-17 advantage against the Vandals. Friday also marks the season-openers for Montana State and Idaho.
FALL RECAP: The Cougars finished the fall season with a combined 38-7 singles record. Junior Elizaveta Luzina led the way by finishing 11-2, including the Crimson singles title at the Cougar Classic. Sophomore Dajana Ognjenovic was 10-2 and captured the third flight of the WSU Invitational. Sophomore Maria Biryukova went 9-1 and won the Boise State Invitational and WSU invitational singles titles while sophomore Lize Leenknecht went 8-2 and captured the Cougar Classic and WSU Invitational second flight singles titles.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2014 season the Cougars will have three new faces to go with five returners. The returning roster includes senior Olga Musilovich, juniors Elizaveta Luzina and Charlotte Koning and sophomores Lize Leenknecht and Dajana Ognjenovic. New to the squad this season are sophomore Maria Biryukova, who arrived in Pullman last fall after transferring from Baylor, and freshmen Victoria Matejevic, Evie Li and Yumi Li.
2013 SEASON IN REVIEW: Washington State finished off dual match play with a 14-12 overall record and 2-8 in conference play in 2013. The Cougars finished eigth in a very competitive Pac-12 conference that had the top seven teams finishing with national rankings. Departed from that team were three seniors who finished their Cougar careers ranked among the all-time wins leaders in school history. Liudmila Vasilieva ended her career with 107 wins, one shy of Elizabeth Fournier’s leading mark of 108. Ksenia Googe left Pullman with 92 career wins, good for third all-time, while Andjela Kankaras ended her career with 87 victories, tied for fifth all-time.
COACH LISA HART: Lisa Hart is in her 11th season as the head coach of Washington State. Hart has accumulated 122 wins over her tenure, registering a 14-12 record last season. In 2012 the Cougars went 19-7 as Hart was awarded the Pac-12 Conference Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year award for the 2011-12 season.
PARKING AT HOLLINGBERY FIELDHOUSE: 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.