After an impressive 3-0 start to their 2024 campaign, WSU tennis headed into its second straight away game looking for a fourth win. Their opponent was the 1-0 Boise State Broncos coming off of a home win against Idaho State University, also the Cougars’ previous opponent. The match was played Saturday at the Boas Indoor Tennis Center in Boise, Idaho.
The day began with doubles and the Cougs got right to work as Yura Nakagawa and Fifa Kumhom beat Boise State’s Pauline Ernstberger and Shauna Heffernan 6-4. Needing one more doubles win to start the day 1-0, the star duo of Eva Alvarez Sande and Elyse Tse finished their match, defeating Nicole Discenza and Lorelyz Marruffo of Boise State. Alvarez Sande and Tse won 6-4 giving the Cougs their doubles point with another match yet to be finished.
The final match of the doubles round was between Hania Abouelsaad and Martina Markov of WSU and Ryan Kershner and Bhakti Shah of Boise State. In a tight match that needed an extra serve, Abouelsaad and Markov were able to pull through and win 7-5, completing the doubles sweep for the Cougs.
Up 1-0 and heading into singles play, the Cougs kept their foot on the gas and never took it off. Kumhom finished her match first against Ari Briones Finesta with a perfect game, winning 6-0, 6-0. Kumhom didn’t have the only impressive Cougar victory during singles as right after her win, Tse finished her match with no trouble against Discenza, winning 6-1, 6-3, and giving the Cougs a 3-0 lead, only needing one more to clinch the match.
The clinching victory came soon after Tse’s win with the freshman Markov taking care of business against Ella Piron of Boise State. Markov won 6-3, 6-4, giving WSU a confirmed 4-0 start to their 2024 campaign still with three matches yet to conclude.
The final three matches of the day were no different than any of the others that had already been played. Nakagawa finished her singles match fourth against Marruffo winning 6-4, 6-0, yet another impressive performance for the Cougs. Following Nakagawa, Alvarez Sande showed out in another win, defeating Ernstberger 6-3, 6-2, giving WSU a 6-0 lead.
With one match left and the possibility for a perfect sweep against Boise State, WSU’s Abouelsaad matched up against Shah to finish up the day. To conclude a perfect day, Abouelsaad won 6-3, 6-3, giving WSU a remarkable 7-0 victory against the Broncos.
The next match for the 4-0 Cougs will be Saturday in Seattle where they will face the Baylor Bears. This will be their third of five straight-away matches.
