WSU tennis is back with the Cougs beginning their 2024 campaign Saturday in Pullman against Eastern Washington University.
The day began with the round of doubles with WSU winning two of the three matches, giving the Cougs a 1-0 start. Doubles partners Eva Alvarez Sande and Elyse Tse finished their match first defeating Scout Matthews and Isabella Foshee 6-2. WSU’s Yura Nakagawa and Fifa Kumhom finished second losing 2-6 to EWU’s Jennifer Kida and Anait Arutiunian. The final doubles match resulted in a Cougar victory with Martina Markov and Hania Abouelsaad defeating Sara Vasic and Kenzington Mann 6-3, securing WSU’s first match point heading into singles.
To begin singles, Tse got the Cougars off to a great start, finishing her matches first winning them both 6-2 against Leandra Nizetic. Not long after that, Kumhom finished her match against Foshee winning 6-4, and 6-3. With this, Kumhom secured her 11th victory of the season, maintaining her position as the team’s current leader.
WSU tennis player Eva Alvarez Sande winds up to serve the ball during an NCAA tennis match against Eastern Washington, Jan. 20, 2024, in Pullman, Wash.
With a 3-0 lead against the Eagles, Alvarez Sande finished her singles match third, completing it with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 win. This victory clinched the team’s first win of the 2024 year with three matches remaining.
The fourth singles match to conclude added another point to WSU’s lead as Nakagawa survived a great match against Matthews. The three-set match was close but ended with the score of 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 giving the Cougs a 5-0 lead against the Eagles.
With two singles matches remaining, Abouelsaad and Markov both put on a show for WSU, absolutely destroying the competition. Abouelsaad did not have much of an issue, defeating Mann in a 6-3, 6-2 victory. In the final match of the day, freshman Markov completed a 6-2, 6-1 win over Vasic. This victory gave the freshman her first dual-match win as a Cougar with WSU completing the 7-0 sweep and starting 2024 1-0.
