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Cougars Head to Utah to Start Eight-Match Stretch Away from Pullman

by wsucougars.com
Feb 10, 2022

THIS WEEK (February 10, 2022): The Washington State Women's Tennis team heads to Salt Lake City, Utah this weekend for matches against Utah and Minnesota. WSU (4-0) will kick off the weekend against the Utes Friday, Feb. 11 at 12:30 p.m. PT. The Cougars will compete against Minnesota in Salt Lake City Saturday, Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. PT. The matches are the first of eight-straight away from Pullman.
 
SCOUTING UTAH: Utah has a 7-0 record on the young season defeating Idaho State (5-2) and Indiana (5-2) last weekend. Friday will mark the 17th match between the Utes and the Cougs, as WSU leads the all-time series 9-8, which includes taking a three-match winning streak into the contest.
 
SCOUTING MINNESOTA: Minnesota enters the weekend with a 9-0 record on the season, with sweeps over North Dakota (7-0) and Northern Iowa (7-0) last weekend. This will be the third all-time meeting between Washington State and Minnesota, with the Cougs having won both previous outings.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Due to weather conditions in Dallas last weekend, WSU's matches against TCU and Baylor were cancelled. The last time WSU took the court, the Cougars continued their season-opening winning streak by defeating Montana and Idaho, 5-2, and Eastern Washington 4-2. WSU took the doubles points in all three matches and cruised through singles matches leading to a 3-0 weekend. The results of last weekend improved WSU to a 4-0 record on the season.
 
NET NOTES:

  • Following her straight-set win against BYU, fifth-year senior Michaela Bayerlova has 80 career singles victories, 7 shy of breaking into the school's Top 10.
  • Senior Savanna Ly-Nguyen continues to lead WSU with 13 singles wins this season.
  • Sophomore Fifa Kumhom, who had three singles victories all of last season, had 10 already this season.
  • WSU is looking for its first 5-0 start to a season since 2019, when it began 6-0.

 
ROSTER BREAKDOWN: For the 2021-22 season the Cougars will have four new players to accompany the four returners. The returning roster consists of fifth-year senior Michaela Bayerlova, seniors Yang Lee and Savanna Ly-Nguyen, sophomore Fifa Kumhom and freshmen Hania Abouelsaad, Stefaniia Mikhailova, Maxine Murphy and Elyse Tse.
 
HEAD COACH RAQUEL ATAWO: Raquel Atawo begins her first season as head coach of the Cougars after being named to the position July 2, 2021. Atawo arrived in Pullman having spent last season as the assistant coach at Auburn and prior to that, spent 15 years on the WTA Tour, where she reached at No. 10 world ranking in doubles.
 
FOLLOW LIVE: Live streaming of the Utah match is available HERE.
 
FOLLOW STATS: Live scoring and stats at Utah are available HERE.
 

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