Cheney, Wash. - The Eastern Washington University women's tennis team bounced back with an impressive 5-2 victory at home over Big Sky Conference opponent Southern Utah, on Sunday, April 3.

Eastern improved to 10-9 with the win and 4-4 in league play. EWU is currently tied for fifth in the Big Sky standings with Montana State as the race for spots in the upcoming Big Sky Tournament heats up. League-leading Northern Arizona, which owns an 8-1 record in Big Sky play, has already clinched one of the six bids to the conference tournament, but it figures to be a tight race down the stretch for the other five spots.

Eastern's three remaining games come against Montana State (4-4 BSC), Montana (2-2 BSC), and Portland State (4-5 BSC), all of who sit directly behind the Eagles in the standings.

The day started off strong for EWU, winning the first two doubles matches to secure the early doubles point. In the No. 1 spot, sophomore Janaya Smith and freshman Faye Worrall defeated Veronika Rogova and Laura Martin Lozano 6-3. The tandem of senior Moira Hedberg and sophomore Rachel Swindell followed up the first match with a tiebreaker finish, defeating Evgenia Marushko and Teresa De Enrique Schmidt 7-6 (7-3).

In the singles competition, Eastern earned three victories from the Nos. 3, 4, and 5 spots in the lineup, respectively. Playing at No. 3, Worrall took down De Enrique 6-1, 6-4, continuing her fantastic play as of late. She now has four singles victories in her last five matches. Junior Erin Blessing defeated Martin 6-3, 6-3, while Swindell beat Charity Sagiao 6-1, 6-4. Smith fell in the No. 2 spot to Marushko in a very back-and-forth match. After losing the first set 6-0, Smith came back with her own 6-0 win in the second set. Eventually, Marushko sealed the match with a 6-4 finish in the third set. The Eagles earned their last point in a defaulted victory awarded to junior Carolina Lopez, who was without an opponent.

EWU head coach Dustin Hinson shared his thoughts on the match, saying, "Today was an excellent response by the team. We did a great job of capitalizing on our strengths. We played smart and really showed a fight and desire to be our best on every point. We are prepared to work hard this week so we are ready to give it our all against Portland State next weekend."

Eastern plays in its final home match of the season next week, facing conference opponent Portland State on Sunday, April 10, starting at 10 a.m. PST.

Results:

Eastern Washington - 5

Southern Utah – 2

Doubles:

1. SMITH, Janaya/WORRALL, Faye (EWU) def. Rogova, Veronika/Martin Lozano, Laura (SUU) 6-3

2. HEDBERG, Moira/SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) def. Marushko, Evgenia/De Enrique Schmidt, Teresa (SUU) 7-6 (7-3)

3. DOMINGO, Katrina/BLESSING, Erin (EWU) def. Default

Singles:

1. Rogova, Veronika (SUU) def. HEDBERG, Moira (EWU) 6-3, 6-1

2. Marushkoa, Evgenia (SUU) def. SMITH, Janaya (EWU) 6-0, 0-6, 6-4

3. WORRALL, Faye (EWU) def. De Enrique Schmidt, Teresa (SUU) 6-1, 6-4

4. BLESSING, Erin (EWU) def. Martin Lozano, Laura (SUU) 6-3, 6-3

5. SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) def. Sagiao, Charity (SUU) 6-1, 6-4

6. LOPEZ, Carolina (EWU) def. Default