After going 1-2 in three road matches over the weekend, the Eagles will head to Washington State to take on the Cougars Friday

Upcoming Schedule

Date - Opponent - Time/Pacific
Jan. 29 - at Washington State - 4:30 p.m.

By Keenan Bowen, EWU Sports Information

The Eastern Washington University women’s tennis team has one more road match before it can return to the friendly confines of the EWU campus. The road-weary Eagles, who played three-straight road matches from Jan. 22-24, will head down to the Palouse Friday (Jan. 29) to take on the Cougars at 4:30 p.m.

The Cougars feature one of the top singles players in the nation in Liudmila Vasilieva, who is ranked No. 124 in the country. They also have one of the top doubles tandems in the country in Erin Troedson and Marina Nicolas, who are ranked No. 44 in the nation.

Washington State is 2-2 on the season, with their two losses coming against No. 64 Brigham Young and No. 62 Utah.

“Like Oregon this past weekend, Washington State will be a challenging match for us,” said associate women’s head coach Dale Silha. “We had a wake-up call against Portland after three straight 7-0 wins to open the season.

“We competed with a tough Oregon team the next day and I expect us to bring that same intensity to WSU,” said Silha. “We need to continue to push ourselves to earn wins against nationally-ranked teams.”

After the match-up with the Cougars, the Eagles will next be in action Feb. 5 against Idaho at home; with match time set for 10 a.m. Eastern will then take on Gonzaga the next day (Feb. 6) in Spokane, Wash., at 3 p.m.

Flying High In The Sky: The Eagles got off on the right foot in Big Sky Conference play with a 7-0 victory over Portland State on Jan. 22. With the victory, the Eagles are currently in first place with a 1-0 record. Besides Eastern and Portland State, no other Big Sky team has played a conference match.

Competing Nationally: Although Eastern dropped its match against No. 71 Oregon 7-0, the Eagles picked up a No. 2 doubles victory and a couple singles players battled to the very end in their respective singles matches.

“We were able to get a significant win against Oregon's No. 2 doubles team,” said Silha. “Kelsey Knight at No. 3 singles and Judy Liening at No. 6 singles had extremely close matches against Oregon that could have gone either way.”

First Time for Everything: Eagle freshmen Chelsea Patton, Ryann Warner and Jessie Steele picked up their first singles wins of their career against Lewis-Clark State (Jan. 15) and Whitworth (Jan. 16).

Both Patton and Warner won both of their singles matches to advance to 2-0 on the season, and Steele saw her first action Saturday (Jan. 16) against Whitworth in defeating Stephanie Reardon 4-6, 6-4, 1-0.

Patton teamed up with Caitlin Bampton in both matches to pick up two doubles wins, and Warner matched up with Judy Liening to go 1-1 over the two matches.

Moving on Up: Senior Marie Demerath now has three singles wins five matches into the 2009-10 dual-match season, tying her total from last season.

Demerath now has 30 career singles victories, and with one more will tie former teammate Kerstyn Dolack’s record of 31, which currently sits at sixth all-time.

Noteworthy Performances: Marie Demerath earned Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors on Jan. 21 for her performance in season-opening matches for the Eagles against Lewis-Clark State College (Jan. 15) and Whitworth University (Jan. 16).

Demerath, a senior from Kenmore, Wash., compiled a 2-0 record in singles play and a 2-0 record in doubles action en route to sweeping 7-0 victories for the Eagles.

On Jan. 15 against Lewis-Clark State as the No. 2 singles player, Demerath defeated Dorothy Chong 6-0, 6-3. She teamed-up with partner Kelsey Knight for an 8-1 doubles victory as well.

Against Whitworth on Jan. 16, Demerath was victorious on the No. 1 singles court against Allie Marshall 6-2, 6-0. Demerath and Knight picked up another doubles victory by an 8-3 score.

This is the second Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honor for Demerath, who was awarded the same honor during the 2006-07 season.

Links:

Eastern Tennis -- http://goeags.com/sports/w-tennis/index
Big Sky Conference Tennis -- http://bigskyconf.com/index.aspx?tab=tennis2&path=wten
NCAA Tennis -- http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-tennis/ncaa-w-tennis-body.html
More Information a nd Links are Available at: HTTP://GOEAGS.COM

Recent EWU Women’s Tennis Headlines:

January 24, 2010 - Eagles Fall 7-0 To No. 71 Oregon
January 23, 2010 - Pilots Ground Eagles 7-0
January 22, 2010 - Eagles Sweep Portland State 7-0
January 21, 2010 - Demerath Named Big Sky Player of the Week
January 16, 2010 - Eagles Defeat Pirates 7-0
January 15, 2010 - Eagles Start Season Off With 7-0 Victory
January 12, 2010 - SEASON OUTLOOK: Eagles Have Several New Faces in 2010
October 25, 2009 - Eagle Men and Women Play in ITA Regionals
September 27, 2009 - Eagles Score Key Wins at EWU/GU Classic
September 25, 2009 - Eagles Play Host to EWU/GU Classic over the Weekend
September 20, 2009 - Eagles Open 2009-10 Campaign in Pullman