Washington State women’s tennis collected two more wins and improved to 5-1 over the weekend at PEAK Racquet Club in Missoula, Mont.

The Cougars captured five of six singles matches Friday en route to a 6-1 win over Montana. The match was the first of the season for the Grizzlies.

The day saw WSU experience continued success in doubles play with their 10^th doubles win in 11 tries this season.

The Cougars captured the opening doubles point for the fifth time in as many matches as the No. 2 pairing of Maria Biryukova and Olga Musilovich opened with a 6-3 win over Laurence Pelchat and Sasha Carter of the Grizzlies.

 WSU captured the doubles point just nine times in 26 tries last season.

At No. 3, Charlotte Koning and Dajana Ognjenovic managed to clinch the point with a 6-3 victory over Maddy Murray and Anabel Carbo Estruch.

The No. 1 doubles match was not recorded, as the doubles point was no longer in doubt with Montana’s Precious Gbadamosi and Haley Driver leading Elizaveta Luzina and Lize Leenknecht 5-3.

The Cougars opened singles play with a free win because Montana was unable to put a No. 6 player on the court.

WSU created an insurmountable lead and clinched the match after Leenknecht dispatched Carter, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 and Luzina beat Gbadamosi 6-3, 6-0 at No. 1.

In No. 4 action, Musilovich was victorious in straight sets for the fifth time on the season, defeating Pelchat 6-4, 7-6.

 The Grizzlies were able to add a win when Driver rallied and came back from a set down to defeat Biryukova 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8) at No. 2.

Ognjenovic closed the match with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Murray at No. 5.

On Saturday, sophomore Leenknecht came back from a set down in order to record a three-set victory that gave the Cougars a 4-3 win and handed Minnesota their first loss on the season.

 The win was the Cougars’ first over a Big Ten opponent since they defeated Penn State in 2003.

WSU held a 3-2 lead and was trailing in the other remaining match, so the outcome of Leenknecht’s match served as the clincher.

Leenknecht dropped the first set 6-4 but captured the second by an identical score.

Due to a new Intercollegiate Tennis Association rule of playing a 10-point tiebreaker in place of a third set, Leenknecht won 10-4 and sealed the team victory.

As the two teams entered singles play, WSU’s deficit grew to 2-0 after Minnesota’s Julia Courter served Musilovich her first dual play loss this season, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4.

The Cougars took over after that with back-to-back, straight-set victories by Biryukova and Luzina tied the match up at 2-2.

In No. 3 play, Biryukova beat Montana’s Jessika Mozia 6-3, 6-2 while Luzina took the 6-2, 6-2 over Tereza Brichacova at No. 1.

Luzina’s win was significant because it marked her second career win over a ranked opponent, as Brichacova entered the match as the No. 65 player in the country.

The Cougars jumped out to a 3-2 lead after Ognjenovic held her ground against a late rally by Aria Lambert of Minnesota at No. 5, winning 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6).

Another 10-point tiebreaker occurred in the final match of the day. This time WSU fell short, with Paula Rincon Otero of the Golden Gophers taking a 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6) victory over Koning in No. 6 action. 

The Golden Gophers began the contest when they captured the first two matches in doubles competition to earn the point in doubles play.

At No. 2 Natallia Pintusava and Courter defeated WSU’s duo of Biryukova and Musilovich 6-2 for the first victory followed by Brichacova and Mozia’s 6-2 win over Luzina and Leenknecht at No. 1.

In No. 3 doubles, Koning and Ognjenovic trailed Lambert and Rincon Otero 3-4 before the match was abandoned.

The Cougars return to Pullman on Friday for a four-game home stretch beginning with BYU in an 11 a.m. match at the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse.