Surf’s up for Cougars tennis

From staff reports

Although Cougar tennis opened their season in Hawaii, they were catching wins rather than waves and sweating on the courts rather than sitting in the sun.

Washington State women’s tennis began its 2015 season with a strong showing during the first two days of play at the Maui Invitational.

The annual Maui Invitational is a non-team scoring tournament in Maui, Hawaii. The Cougars made their first appearance at the tournament in program history this season.

The 2014-2015 team is comprised of two seniors, two juniors, one sophomore, one redshirt freshmen and three freshmen. The Maui tournament is the first time that several members of the team will take the court for the Cougars.

The three day tournament began on Friday and continued through Sunday. Hawaii Pacific and Gonzaga were the Cougars competition at the invitational.

The Cougars began the weekend by defeating Gonzaga in both singles and doubles action. The combination of senior Elizaveta Luzina and junior Lize Leenknecht dominated the Bulldogs in both formats, with both players winning their individual singles matches before teaming up for back-to-back wins in doubles play.

Luzina opened singles play with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Gonzaga senior Katie Edwards. Leenknecht concluded singles play for the Cougars with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Gonzaga junior Sissie Koehler.

The Cougars won three out of five singles matches against the Bulldogs on the tournament’s first day of competition.

In doubles play, the Cougars kept the momentum going by winning three out of four matches. Luzina and Leenknecht defeated Gonzaga junior Samantha Polayes and Edwards 6-2, and defeated Gonzaga freshman Alex Bourguignon and junior Melanie Yates 7-5 in back-to-back matches.

On Saturday, the Cougars competed against both Gonzaga and host Hawaii Pacific in singles play. The Cougars kept their hot swings by taking six out of seven matches against Hawaii Pacific and all six matches against Gonzaga.

Leenknecht kept her perfect play going with a victory over Hawaii Pacific senior Vivian Hansen 6-2, 6-3. Leenknecht ended the day with a win over Gonzaga’s Yates 6-2, 6-3.

Sophomore Victoria Matejevic rallied from a set down to defeat Hawaii Pacific senior Lea Kruse-Utermann 4-6, 6-2, and 6-3. Matejevic ended her day with a victory over Gonzaga senior Kylie Peek in three sets 7-5, 3-6, and 6-4.

Hawaii Pacific earned its lone win of the day when freshman Kristyna Hancarova rallied from a set down to defeat WSU’s Luzina 3-6, 6-3, and 6-2.

The Cougars won 15 out of 18 singles matches and 3 out of 4 doubles matches combined in the two day span.

WSU ended the tournament on a high note, taking all six of their single matches and five out of seven of their doubles on Sunday.

In singles action, HPU’s Lorena Gheorghe and Kristyna Hancaraova defeated Luzina and Leenknecht with a match score of 7-5, while WSU’s Donika Bashota and Victoria Matejevic won easily over Vivian Hansen and Nicole Hoynaski, 6-1. Nastia Vasyukhina and Maria Biryukova also easily handled Hawaii Pacific’s Lea Kruse-Utermann and Hoynaski, not allowing HPU to score a point with a final tally of 6-0.

Cougars’ Vasyukhina and Biryukova defeated Hawaii Pacific’s Lea Kruse-Utermann and Hoynaski handily in doubles action, beating the HPU pair 6-0.

Throughout the three day tournament, Biryukova and Leenknecht played perfect, going 4-0 in singles while Monahan went 3-0.

In the only three-set match of the day, WSU’s Bashota came back from a set down to best HPU’s Kruse-Utermann with match scores of 2-6, 6-3, and 6-0.

The Cougars dominated the invitational, winning 29 of their 35 matches.

The team will return home to face Seattle and Idaho on Thursday, Jan 22 beginning at 1 p.m on the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse.

Reporting by Curtis Calhoun