Cougars sweep Eagles and LMU in weekend matches
WSU’s Yura Nakagawa prepares to hit the ball back over the net during the Saturday matchup against Eastern Washington’s Veronika Gayevyk.
COURTESY PHOTO/DEAN HARE/WSU PHOTO SERVICES
PULLMAN — The Washington State Cougars earned a pair of team victories as they defended their home court over the weekend, sweeping both the Eastern Washington Eagles and Loyola Marymount University.
The Cougars began their home bout Saturday against the Eagles, where WSU showed depth on the court, winning all three doubles matches for a 1-0 lead in the match.
The No. 3 pairing of Zali Morris and Yura Nakagawa from the Cougars was first off the court as they won their matches over Leandra Nizetic and Maria Lopez Gomez 6-1. Then the No. 2 pairing of Eva Alvarez Sande and Ava-Monet Sycamore secured the point for WSU after defeating Anait Arutiunian and Sara Vasic from EWU 6-1. The match between Washington State’s Maxine Murphy and Chisato Kanemaki and Eastern’s Zoe Pradel and Olivia Marais came closer, but the Cougar duo secured a 6-4 win.
The teams started singles at No. 3 as Martina Puvill from the Cougars defeated Zoe Pradel from the Eagles 6-2, 6-2. This was followed by the No. 4 match, where EWU’s Veronika Gayevyk fell to Nakagawa 6-0, 6-2.
The Cougars clinched the match victory with a win in No. 6 singles as Sycamore earned a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Aneliss Zamfirescu from Eastern.
"I feel like we had pretty decent energy. We were getting used to a new facility after playing at home for the past few weeks. Being on the road and getting used to a new court in a new environment was a little bit tough," Eagles Head Coach Dustin Hinson said. "We started a little slow in singles, but overall, we fought well and played much better as the matches went on. We want to learn and build from playing on the road, going into conference road matches. Olivia Marais was playing really well and had split sets, but didn't finish after (WSU) clinched the match."
The next day, WSU faced LMU and earned another 4-0 victory for the team.
Senior Cougar Maxine Murphey pulled out a close win as the No. 2 singles against LMU’s Ada Piestrzynska. The match was close throughout as Murphy captured a close first set, then jumped to a 5-1 lead in the second before Piestrzynska fought back to tie the set at 5-5. Murphy held out and closed with a 6-4, 7-5 win.
Marina Puvill from the Cougars won in the No.3 singles match against Kim-Michaela Zahraj from LMU 6-0, 6-4, and WSU’s Nakagawa defeated Anastasia Bozova 6-4, 6-0 to round out the wins in the singles matches for Washington State.
With the match clinched, the three remaining matches on court were abandoned. At No. 1, WSU's Eva Alvarez Sande was locked in a tight contest with LMU's Lidia Gonzalez, with Gonzalez taking the first 6-4, and Alvarez Sande claiming the second 6-4. The matches at No. 5 and 6 were just on court as Kanemaki at No. 5 trailed 2-3 to Helene Schnack and Sycamore was down 0-1 against Sofia Perovani.
In doubles play to start the match, the Cougars struck first as Nakagawa and Zali Morris posted a 6-2 victory over LMU's Zahraj and Schnack at No. 3. WSU clinched the doubles point when Alvarez Sande and Sycamore completed a 6-4 win over Gonzalez and Perovani at No. 2. The No. 1 match was stopped with the Cougars' Murphy and Kanemaki leading Bozova and Piestrzynska, 6-5.
The Cougars head on the road this weekend to play Saint Mary’s Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and Pacific Sunday at 11 a.m. The Eagles remain on the road to face Northern Arizona University at 10 a.m. Saturday.