Cougars Advance at ITA Northwest Regionals

STANFORD, Calif. – Washington State’s Maria Biryukova, Elizaveta Luzina and Donika Bashota advanced in singles, while two doubles teams advanced at the ITA Northwest Regionals Friday at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium.

In singles play, the No. 11 seeded Luzina advanced to round three and moved into fourth place on the WSU all time singles list after posting a 7-5, 6-2 victory against Marlou Kluiving of Oregon. Earlier in the day, Luzina advanced and tied No. 4 Ekaterina Burduli on the WSU all time singles victory list by posting a tight 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over Portland’s Cristina Saenz de Buruaga. Luzina will open the third round Saturday at 10 a.m. against Santa Clara’s Delphine Rouvillois.

Biryukova easily defeated Eastern Washington’s Carolina Lopez as she posted a sound 6-1, 6-1 victory followed by a 6-3, 6-0 win over Tracy Dong of Portland State. Biryukova will face No. 14 seed Ellen Tsay of Stanford in the third round.

Bashota impressed during the opening rounds as she posted two sound victories, 6-0, 6-2 against Portland State’s Ayaka Terakawa, and a 6-0, 6-1 against Portland’s Emily Gould. Boshota will face with the No. 2 seed Carol Zhao of Stanford in round three.

Washington State’s Victoria Matejevic and Nastia Vasyukhina both opened the first round with victories as Matejevic defeated Oregon’s Allie Hueffner 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, and Vasyukhina posted a 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Gonzaga’s Franziska Koehler. Matejevic and Vasyukhina both lost to Cal student-athletes in round two, as Matejevic fell to Karal Popovic 6-2, 6-0, and the No.3 seeded Zsofi Susany eliminated Vasyukhina, 6-0, 6-1.

Washington State junior Lize Leenknecht was outdueled during her the first round to Santa Clara’s Chelby Cooke 5-7, 6-0, 6-2. Freshmen Holly Monahan and Grace Lymer-Sullivan both lost to UC Davis competitors, as Monahan lost 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 to Lani Rae Green and Lymer-Sullivan was ousted by Jessica Lee, 6-2, 6-4.

The first round of doubles play kicked off Friday with Bashota and Matejevic easily defeating Santa Clara’s Zeina El Tawill and Riley Morgan, 8-2. The duo will face Cal Poly’s Dane’ Joubert and Hannah Stone in round two at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Leenknecht and Luzina posted an 8-6 victory over Washington rivals Natalie Allen and Angela Cheri. The duo looks to extend their doubles win streak to five as they face Portland’s Maja Mladenovic and Amanda Zuidema Saturday.

Biryukova and Vasyukhina saw their six-match winning streak snapped as they fell to the No. 8 seeded duo out of Portland, Lucia Butkovska and Jelena Lazarevic.

Lymer-Sullivan and Monahan fell during the first round 8-2 against Fresno State’s Aishwarya Agrawal and Sofya Malysheva.

Washington State women’s tennis resume play at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regionals starting at 9 a.m. with doubles and at 10 a.m. with singles. Any fans that wish to keep up with the Cougars can find coverage of the tournament at http://streamingtennis.com/cardinal.