CHENEY, Wash. – The Eastern Washington University women's tennis team hosts its second Big Sky Conference contest facing Portland State this Sunday (April 11) beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific time inside the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse in Cheney, Wash. The Eagles head into the match with an overall record of 5-8 and 1-0 in conference play and look to honor three seniors in Rylee Braeden, Zoey Nelson and Stephanie Broussard.

"We are really looking forward to another conference battle here at home this weekend. It's fun to be able to recognize our seniors and celebrate their career as Eagles and their commitment to the program," said head coach Dustin Hinson, who has spent nine years at the helm of the program. "We have trained hard this week and we will certainly have a little extra motivation to go out on the court and give everything we have for our seniors."

Throughout Hinson's time at Eastern Washington, he has led his team to four winning seasons, three of which have come in the last three seasons with the help from this year's graduating class.

SENIOR DAY: Rylee Braeden comes from Houston, Texas, and has been awarded First-Team All-Big Sky Doubles twice throughout her time at Eastern, which she received during her freshman and sophomore years. During her sophomore season, Braeden was awarded Big Sky Player of the Week after going a perfect 4-0 over a weekend against Southern Utah and Northern Arizona, helping the Eagle squad secure the No. 4 seed in the conference championship.

Additionally, to conclude her sophomore season in doubles play, Braeden held a 9-1 conference record at the No.1 spot and won eight out of her last 10 matchups, finishing 15-5 on the season to record second all-time in program history for overall doubles wins. She has a career total of 27 singles play wins and 37 doubles play wins to mark fourth all-time in singles and doubles wins at Eastern Washington.

She is a three-time Spring Big Sky All-Academic player and has been awarded one ITA Scholar Athlete Award (Fr.) throughout her career. Last season, Braeden ended her junior year unbeaten in singles (5-0 at No.2) and doubles (3-0 at No.1) play.

Zoey Nelson comes from Goodyear, Ariz., and during her time at Eastern she has earned two Second-Team All-Big Sky Singles award during her freshman and sophomore seasons, along with a Second-Team All-Big Sky Doubles award in her sophomore year. As a freshman, she earned the Big Sky Freshman of the Year award following an overall 11-8 singles play and an even 8-8 overall doubles play record.

Additionally, Nelson is a three-time Spring Big Sky All-Academic team member and a two-time ITA Scholar Athlete (Fr./Jr.) and finished her junior season on a three-match winning streak recording a 4-1 record in conference doubles. She has a career total of 28 singles play wins and 29 doubles play wins and currently holds the top spot for doubles wins at the No.2 spot in a single season at EWU with 11 wins in 2019.

Stephanie Broussard is a Virginia native and has received an All-Big Sky Honorable Mention nod, a Spring Big Sky All-Academic Team selection and earned an ITA Scholar-Athlete award throughout her Eagle career, all of which she received during her freshman year in which she logged an overall 14-8 singles and 10-6 doubles play record.

She has a career total of 16 singles play wins and 15 doubles play wins and holds an overall winning 10-3 singles and 6-3 doubles record in Big Sky Conference matchups.

LAST TIME OUT: The Eagles return to the tennis courts holding a two-match winning streak following a close 4-3 victory against the visiting Idaho Vandals at the EWU Tennis Courts in Cheney, Wash., last week (April 3) and a 7-0 sweep versus LC State in Lewiston, Idaho in the match prior (March 21). Following the victory against Idaho, freshman Scout Mathews earned the Big Sky Conference Women's Tennis Player of the Week nod, picking up a win at No. 2 doubles and No. 2 singles and helping EWU win its second-straight match.

By defeating the Vandals, the Eagles began Big Sky Conference play with one victory and zero losses under their belt, and look to keep the streak alive this Sunday. They hold the second-place spot in the North Division of the conference, behind Portland State.

KNOWING YOUR OPPONENT: The Viking squad is led by head coach Kyle Russell, who enters his second season at the helm and currently leads his team to a 7-9 overall and 2-0 conference record after defeating Montana State (5-2) and Montana (4-3). Portland State is currently on a one-match winning streak following a 4-0 win over Hawaii at Hilo in its last match. 

Furthermore, the Eagles hold an all-time series record of 27-7 against the Vikings with a five-match winning streak and an 11-3 all-time home record.

Following the match, Eastern will finish league play facing Montana State on April 16 in Bozeman, Mont., and against Montana on April 18 in Missoula, Mont.

The 2021 Big Sky Conference Women's Tennis Championship will be May 1-2, Saturday-Sunday, in Phoenix, Ariz. The top two teams from each division will advance to the championships.