Eastern Washington University's tennis teams are picking up competition this weekend. The men will play one match in Spokane against Gonzaga University. The women will play two matches against Boise State and Colorado at the Boas Indoor Tennis Center in Boise, Idaho.

For the men . . .

Last weekend the men traveled to California to compete against No. 18 Stanford along with playing Santa Clara. Due to weather issues, the Stanford match was delayed and the Santa Clara match was canceled.

Due to the rain delay against Stanford, the teams had to play indoors but the university only had one indoor court. Because of this, they only played until a team won four matches. The Eagles ended up falling to Stanford 4-0, but did not go down without a fight.

Senior Robert Dula was the No. 1 singles player and was competitive in his match, coming out on top 2-0 in the first set. He ended up battling back-and-forth with his opponent, before falling 6-4, 6-2. Victor Pereira and Scott Paz also had close matches but both ending up falling to their opponents in two sets.

"The Stanford match was good in the respect that we were all able to see each match one at a time so the guys know very clearly what they need to focus on during this week heading into another match," head coach Steve Clark said.

Going into the competition this week, the Eagles are 1-1 after defeating Seattle University on Jan. 15 and falling to Stanford. Dula is also currently ranked No. 19 in the Northwest Region.

"The guys are eager to get on court," head coach Steve Clark said. "We had a great weekend in California. We got to meet some great folks that hosted our team and got more tennis in than any sane person would expect with the monsoon down there. But only having gotten the Stanford match in with an abbreviated format and then to be just minutes away from playing Santa Clara before the downpour began again, the guys are chomping at the bit.  As usual I expect them to compete fiercely and we just have to keep getting better each day."

The men will travel closer to home this week, playing Gonzaga University in Spokane on Saturday, January 28. Matches will begin at Noon. Matches will have both video and live stats, available at www.gozags.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/tennis-scoreboard.html.

The men's first home and league match will be against Sacramento State on February 10.

For the women . . .

Last weekend, the women traveled to Eugene, Oregon to take on Oregon University. They were also supposed to play against Portland University but due to facility issues, the match was canceled.

Against Oregon, EWU fought a hard battle but ended up falling 7-0 to the Pac-12 team. Senior Katrina Domingo went back-and-forth with her opponent. Domingo won her first set 6-4, but lost the second set 6-3 before falling in a tiebreaker that was decided only by two points, 10-8.

Going into competition this week, Eastern is 0-2 after falling to both Pac-12 teams, Oregon and Washington State.

"I'm very happy with the progression so far this season," head coach Dustin Hinson said. "Even though we have not picked up match wins these past two weekends, I am really impressed with the toughness and grit the team has shown."

This week the Eagles will be playing Boise State and Colorado. This will be Boise State's first match of their season, not having played since the fall. Colorado has previously played Northern Colorado and Colorado State, winning both of those matches. The match against the Broncos will be on Friday, January 27 and the match against the Buffaloes will be on Saturday, January 28.

Colorado has two ranked players on their team, senior Nuria Ormeno Ruiz is ranked No. 3 and junior Jeannez Daniel is No. 16 in the Mountain Region.

"We know we face two tough tennis programs this weekend and we are excited and ready to face those challenges," Hinson said. "We are hungry and we will definitely leave everything out there on the court."

The women's first home match will be on Friday, February 3 against Lewis-Clark State College. They will open league play against Northern Colorado also at home on February 18.

"There is tremendous love and support on this team, which is a really special quality that can be tough to find with competitive college athletes," Hinson added. "I'm tremendously proud of each athlete for supporting each other, loving what they do and believing in the process of growing through adversity and challenges.  My athletes are tough, they work hard, and they are incredibly disciplined."