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Cougars Head to Los Angeles for Weekend Matches

by wsucougars.com
Mar 31, 2022

THIS WEEK (March 31, 2022): The Washington State Women's Tennis team (6-10, 1-4) heads to Los Angeles this weekend for Pac-12 matches at USC and UCLA. Friday, April 1, the Cougars visit No. 21 USC at Marks Stadium, at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 2 the Cougars head to No. 15 UCLA at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, with match time set for Noon. This weekend concludes the Pac-12 road schedule for the Cougars in regular-season play.
 
SCOUTING USC: The Trojans enter the week with a 10-10 record, 3-3 in Pac-12 play, along with a No. 21 national ranking. Last weekend USC came up short, losing to Stanford and California. Eryn Cayetano is the highest-ranked singles player at NO. 6, followed by Salma Ewing (#41), Snow Han (#77) and Naomi Cheong (#78). Ewing and Han are the Trojans' top-ranked doubles team at No. 30. USC leads the all-time series 25-2, with one of the WSU victories coming last season in Pullman. 
 
SCOUTING UCLA: The Bruins enter the week with an 8-3 record, 4-0 in Pac-12 play, along with a No. 15 national ranking. In its last outing, UCLA defeated then-No. 30 Arizona State 4-1. Abigail Forbes is the top-ranked Bruin at NO. 47, followed by Elysia Bolton at No. 67. Forbes and Ava Catanzarite are the top-ranked doubles duo at No. 33. UCLA leads the all-time series 31-2, and holds a two-year winning streak against the Cougs.
 
LAST TIME OUT: WSU went to Eugene last weekend to face No. 45 Oregon. Seniors, Savanna Ly-Nguyen and Michaela Bayerlova captured two points in singles play for the Cougs but WSU ultimately fell short, 5-2.
 
NET NOTES:

  • Fifth-year senior Michaela Bayerlova is 13-1 on the season, giving her 86 career victories, one shy of reaching WSU's Top 10.
  • Bayerlova re-entered the ITA National Rankings at No. 91 last week.
  • Senior Savanna Ly-Nguyen leads WSU with 18 singles wins this season and has 70 for her career.
  • The duo of Ly-Nguyen and freshman Elyse Tse have a team-leading 11 doubles wins this season, all coming in dual matches.

 
BAYERLOVA TOP THREE COLLEGIANS IN WORLD RANKING: Washington State fifth-year senior Michaela Bayerlova entered this week with a WTA ranking of 513. That places her third among current collegians in the world rankings. Virginia sophomore Emma Navarro leads all NCAA women tennis players with a ranking of 194. Texas sophomore Peyton Stearns is next at No. 387 followed by Bayerlova.
 
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 THE COUGARS: Keep up with Washington State tennis by following @WSUCougarTennis on Twitter, @wsucougartennis on Instagram, and Washington State Cougar Tennis on Facebook.
 

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