Cougar Tennis Heads to ITA Northwest Regionals
THIS WEEK: The Washington State women’s tennis team concludes the 2014 fall season at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regionals in Stanford, Calif., which is slated to run Oct. 10- 14, at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
LAST WEEK: At the 2014 WSU Invitational, junior Maria Biryukova captured the Flight 2 title, while freshmen Donika Boshota impressed at her first WSU Invitational, capturing the Flight 3 championship. Washington State concluded the tournament strong, winning six of their nine doubles matches, with Biryukova and Nastia Vasyukhina posting three straight victories.
USTA/ITA NORTHWEST REGIONALS: In addition to Washington State and host Stanford, the ITA's Northwest Region field is comprised teams from California, Cal Poly, Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon, Pacific, Portland, Portland State, Sacramento State, Saint Mary's, San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Seattle, UC Davis and Washington.
ITA REGIONAL DRAWS SET: Friday’s action begins at 8:30 a.m. with the first two rounds of singles and the opening slate of doubles. The competition continues Saturday with two more rounds on both sides with the quarterfinals set for Sunday. Semifinals for singles and doubles are contested Monday, before the championship matches on Tuesday.
SINGLES DRAW: Washington State will open the first round of singles with all eight student-athletes competing. Grace Lymer-Sullivan and Maria Biryukova will open the day for the Cougars at 10 a.m., as Lymer-Sullivan faces Jessie Lee of UC Davis and Biryukova competes against Eastern Washington’s Carolina Lopez. Junior Lize Leenknecht will take the court at 10:30 a.m., facing Delphine Rouvillois of Santa Clara. Cougar freshman Nastia Vasyukhina will battle Gonzaga’s Franziska Koehler at 12:30 p.m., before Holly Monahan and sophomore Victoria Matejevic compete at 1:30 p.m. Monahan will face UC Davis’ Lani Rae Green, while Matejevic faces Pac-12 opponent Allie Hueffer of Oregon. No.11 seed, senior Elizaveta Luzina, will face Portland’s Cristina Saenz de Buruaga at 1:30 p.m. To round off the first round for the Cougars, freshman Donika Bashota will compete against Ayaka Terakawa from Portland State at 3 p.m.
DOUBLES DRAW: The Cougars look to keep their doubles success alive as three of four doubles teams are undefeated in tournament play. The duo of Biryukova and Vasyukhina will rejoin forces and put their 6-0 record on the line as they face off against the No.8 seeded duo of Lucia Butkovska and Jelena Lazarevic of Portland. Bashota and Matejevic, 3-0, will team up and face Santa Clara’s Zeina El Tawill and Riley Morgan. Leenknecht and Luzina also look to stay unbeaten this fall as they face Pac-12 rivals Natalie Allen and Angela Cheri of Washington. Freshmen Lymer-Sullivan and Monahan will pair up to compete against Fresno State’s Aishwarya Agrawal and Sofya Malysheva.
ITA REGIONAL SEEDS: Nationally-ranked Elizaveta Luzina (66) enters the USTA/ITA Northwest Regionals as the only seeded Cougar sitting at No. 11.
LUZINA CLIMBING ALL TIME LIST: Elizaveta Luzina, No. 66 nationally, inched closer to the No.4 spot on the WSU all-time singles victory list, as she won one match during the WSU Invitational, putting her at 89 career victories. Luzina will have the opportunity this weekend at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regionals tournament to surpass No. 4 Ekaterina Burduli, who has 90 career wins.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2014-15 season, the Cougars will have four 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 Cougar squad this season are Donika Bashota, Grace Lymer-Sullivan, Holly Monahan and Nastia Vasyukhina.
COACH HART: Lisa Hart is in her 12th season as the head coach of Washington State. Hart has accumulated 141 wins over her tenure, registering an 18-10 record last season.
LIVE STATS: Fans wishing to follow the Cougars can go to http://streamingtennis.com/cardinal to get live results.