This weekend, WSU women’s tennis will be back on the court when they host the Cougar Classic.

Leading the way for the WSU women’s tennis team is Head Coach Lisa Hart. Hart has been at WSU for 13 seasons, during her time here she has coached 154 wins and reached the NCAA Tennis Championships in 2008 and 2012.

She also coached three student athletes who reached the NCAA Tennis Championships: Eka Burduli in 2006 and 2008, Elisabeth Fournier in 2010, and Liudmila Vasilieva in 2010 and 2012.

The Cougar Classic will feature WSU, Boise State, Montana State, and Lewis-Clark State College and will be held at the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts.

“(It’s) an individual tournament, just a regular bracket with all the kids in it,” Hart said.

The women that make up the WSU Women’s Tennis team are all international students, showing that recruiting goes beyond finding talent here in the U.S.

“The Pac-12 is the best tennis conference,” Hart said. “We try to find the very best talent we can find. Oftentimes, that’s outside the U.S. It is definitely a fit that needs to happen. If someone doesn’t understand how special of a place this is, then it is probably not going to work. This is everyone’s family away from home.”

The team consists of three freshmen players — Melisa Ates, Lejla Colic, and Ege Tomey — and three returning players: senior Victoria Matejevic, and sophomores Barbora Michalkova and Aneta Miksovska.

Last year, in the 2015 Cougar Classic, WSU won in both singles and doubles titles. Then-sophomore Donika Bashota defeated Gonzaga’s then-freshman Sophie Whittle for the singles title. In doubles, Bashota and WSU’s then-senior Lize Leenknecht beat Gonzaga’s then-senior Sam Polayes and Whittle.

Hart describes the team going into the season as “really confident and very excited. We try to focus on our preparation, always. Our players have really bought into that and have done a really good job preparing. I think our players kind of have a chip on their shoulder right now, especially our returners. They want to have a really good year and they’re committed to the process to do that.”

In the 2015-2016 season, Leenknecht and Bashota both received the 2016 Pac-12 Conference Women’s Tennis All-Academic honorable mention. Leenknecht graduated with a 3.05 GPA and a degree in Journalism & Media Production. Bashota finished her sophomore season with a 3.13 GPA.

Hart said she’s extremely surprised by how well the team did last semester.

“Last semester, we had a 3.5 GPA average and nobody speaks English as a first language,” Hart said. “I’m kind of in awe of our players to be able to do that. And they’re so committed to tennis, too, and they’re all putting in extra time. I’m impressed with them actually.”

The Cougar Classic will begin Sept. 11. Matches will be played all day, with the tournament concluding Sept. 13. Tournament updates can be found on wsucougars.com.