WSU tennis (4-3, 0-0 Pac-12) continued an extended road trip with wins against Fresno State (3-5, 0-0 Mountain West), Friday and Cal Poly (1-3, 0-0 Big West), Saturday in Fresno, California.

The final Cougar practice before embarking on their flight down to California was spent outside in preparation for the warm weather of Fresno, California where the tennis matches would be played outside.

“I think our preparation through the season is pretty consistent. We played outside today because we have not played outside in a couple of months and Fresno will be outdoors,” head coach Raquel Atawo said Wednesday.

That extra preparation was key, helping Wazzu leave their stay in the state with two straight wins to break out of their slump. They beat Fresno State 5-2, which started with a point win from doubles action. Only one Cougar duo fell in doubles action, as Maxine Murphy and Yura Nakagawa lost a tough battle 7-6 (8).

Despite that loss, the duo of Eva Alvarez Sande and Elyse Tse won 6-4, and Fifa Kumhom and Stefaniia Mikhailova dominated to a 6-1 win and 2-1 doubles win overall for WSU.

Singles’ action continued the overall winning ways. Murphy came into the match ranked for the first time in her career, coming in at No. 111 in the ITA rankings.

Despite the ranking, she could not come away with the win, falling 7-6 (4), 6-2. Luckily for Murphy, her teammates had her back, with Alvarez Sande (6-4, 6-4), Nakagawa (6-4, 7-6 (3)), Kumhom (7-6 (2), 6-2) and Hania Abouelsaad (6-4, 6-3) all coming out on top to secure the overall WSU win.

With a quick turnaround, there was little time to dwell on any negatives from the match against the Bulldogs as the team prepped for Cal Poly. Luckily for the Cougs, they did enough to prepare for the Mustangs, coming away with a convincing 6-1 win.

Notably, No. 111 Murphy had a massive bounceback, winning her match 6-3, 7-5. Tse, the other singles competitor who lost against Fresno State also bounced back, securing a 7-5, 6-4 win over her opponent.

In the wildest match of all, Kumhom outlasted her opponent in a marathon 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7) finish. The next step for the Cougs is to find a way to build off of this momentum and continue their winning ways as the tennis schedule creeps closer and closer to opening conference play.

The next test for the Cougs is 1 p.m. Friday to take on Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska. The match will be played at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center. Then, at 9 a.m. Saturday, they match up with Minnesota on the same court.