Team energy is as positive as ever for the women of WSU tennis, leading to two wins prior to the start of Pac-12 Conference play.

No. 69 ranked WSU tennis (7-4, 0-0 Pac-12) took down Eastern Washington (2-3, 0-0 Big Sky) and Saint Mary’s (2-4, 0-0 WCC) in back-to-back wins at home.

The Cougs came into the matches after splitting matches on the road against Nebraska and Minnesota, also being 18-0 All-Time against Eastern Washington. All around, the dominance over the program continued from the get-go.

In doubles action, on court No. 1 Maxine Murphy and Yura Nakagawa took a 3-2 point advantage with a point sweep, carrying that momentum into a 6-3 set win.

“Both doubles and singles were slow starts, but I found my way through it, found my way in it and just tried to keep it going,” Murphy said.

On Court No. 3, Hania Abouelsaad and Stefaniia Mikhailova also took down their opposition in a 6-4 win to secure the first point in favor of the Cougs. Finally, on Court No. 2, the duo of Eva Alvarez Sande and Elyse Tse finished their match, completing the trifecta with their own 6-4 victory.

The singles competition started off hot, getting the point from a forfeit at the No. 6 spot and all four Cougs on all four courts winning their first sets. Tse finished her match first, winning a straight-set sweep, 6-4, 6-1.

Mere moments later, Alvarez Sande finished her own straight-set victory, 6-2, 6-2, clinching the overall match victory for WSU. Just as quickly, Murphy capped off a dominant second set to win her match 6-4, 6-0.

“I’m just going to use the team positive energy from the team going forward and then keeping the confidence up with these wins,” Murphy said.

In other singles action played after match point, Nakagawa claimed victory 6-3, 6-3 and Mikhailova completed the full and perfect WSU set sweep with a 6-2, 6-3 win. The 7-0 victory for the Cougs was the second time this season the Cougs completely swept of a team, the first since their opening match against Montana in January.

Both head coach Raquel Atawo and Murphy said that the team calmed down from early set struggles to find their groove and claim victory against the Eagles. They both said that the team can build off of each other to stay positive throughout their matches.

“We figured it out, we calmed down and got into our groove. One of our goals going forward is just staying positive and knowing we are doing things right,” Atawo said.

After losing the first point to Saint Mary’s after winning just one doubles match, WSU won every single match that was played to completion. The other point loss came from No. 1 Murphy retiring during the first set.

Following the wins, WSU gears up for Pac-12 competition, which will start at home Friday.

At noon Friday, the Cougs will host USC on the Simmelink Tennis Courts, then at 11 a.m. Sunday, they host UCLA on the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts. Both matches will be streamed live on the WSU Live Stream.

“I think for most of the team, everyone is very excited for Conference play and improving from last year,” Atawo said.