No. 37 WSU faced off against Pac-12 rival No. 22 Stanford University inside Hollingbery Fieldhouse.

The Cougars dropped just their fourth match of the season, falling 4-2 to the Cardinal.

WSU Head Coach Lisa Hart said that the loss to Stanford places more emphasis on WSU’s match against University of California, Berkley, on Saturday.

“I think we need another win,” Hart said, “when I look at the rankings, and if we want to control our own destiny, we need to find another win. I think in Pullman on senior day that’s probably the time to get it done.”

Stanford captured the opening doubles point. The first and second doubles matches went decisively to Stanford and the third match went unfinished with a 4-4 score.

The Cardinal were the first to grab a point in singles as well, but shortly after senior Barbora Michalkova defeated No. 42 Stanford sophomore Emily Arbuthnott to make the score 2-1.

Stanford kept the lead after grabbing their third point before No. 30 freshman Michaela Bayerlova went on to grab WSU’s second point of the match when she upset No. 15 Michaela Gordon.

Hart said Bayerlova just never gave up after losing the first set of the match.

“She played really well in the second and third sets,” Hart said. “Really proud of her for getting that win.”

The match ended 4-2 in Stanford’s favor after Cardinal freshman Janice Shin defeated sophomore Aneta Miksovska.

Michalkova said the Cougars fought hard and will learn from this loss.

“It was a good match, a very close match … we had a good chance to win,” Michalkova said. “Of course, we are upset a little bit right now, but I think it was a good match.”

WSU will hold their final home match of the season against No. 45 Cal at 10:45 a.m. Saturday. The match will hold special significance for Michalkova, as it is her final match in Pullman of her collegiate career.

“I’m very excited, not only because it’s my senior day,” Michalkova said, “[but] because we need this win and I think we can do it.”