PULLMAN, Wash. - The Eagles traveled to Pullman for their first road match of the season. Eastern Washington (1-1) would however fall to Washington State (3-0) 6-1 and drop their first contest of the year.

EWU and WSU met in their 40th all-time meeting, with the Cougars moving to 39-1 all-time over the Eagles.

In the doubles, the No. 2 pairing for Eastern, junior Leandra Nizetic and senior Kelly Arends would compete together in their second straight match. The two would battle, but fall 6-3 to Elyse Tse and Chisato Kanemaki from WSU. 

In singles, The junior Sara Vasic would make her season debut in dual-match play for the Eagles in the No. 6 position. Vasic would face off against Madhu Satishabu and start fast to steal the first set 6-2. Dropping the second set 6-3, Satishabu would force a 10-point tiebreaker in the final match of the night. Vasic would be able to come out on top and win the tiebreaker 10-8 to secure her second career dual-match victory, and her first dual-match victory of the year.

"I was super super happy that Sara Vasic at No. 6 was able to get the win. She played super gritty, fought hard, and played with no fear. She really competed and wanted that victory. Overall that was the message that I wanted to give the team to bring that competitive edge," head coach Dustin Hinson said.

The No. 2 and No. 4 singles for the Eagles, Leandra Nizetic and Kelly Arends would each compete well, but were unable to steal a set, as they each lost 6-4 in their one of two sets played. 

"We know Washington State is a great team, but we wanted to bring that energy and that fight and desire to compete and never quit.  I thought we did a great job with that so proud of the team in the effort. Hopefully, we can just kinda keep building on our games and use it to grow and be ready for Gonzaga."

Up Next
EWU will continue their road trip and travel to Spokane to take on Gonzaga Sunday, Jan.19 at 3 pm.

2025 Eastern Washington Women's Tennis
January 17, 2025
Washington State University def. Eastern Washington 6-1
Pullman, Wash.

DOUBLES
No. 1 Eva Alvarez Sande/Maxine Murphy (WSU) def. Anait Arutiunian/Kenzington Mann (EWU) 6-0
No. 2 Elyse Tse /Chisato Kanemaki (WSU) def. Leandra Nizetic /Kelly Arends (EWU) 6-3 
No. 3 Hania Abouelsaad/Martina Markov (WSU) def. Zoe Pradel/Olivia Marais (EWU) 4-3 (DNF)

Order of Finish: 1, 2 

SINGLES
No. 1 Eva Alvarez Sande (WSU) def. Anait Arutiunian (EWU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 Maxine Murphy (WSU) def. Leandra Nizetic (EWU) 6-4, 6-2
No. 3 Martina Puvill (WSU) def. Kenzington Mann (EWU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 4 Chisato Kanemaki (WSU) def. Kelly Arends (EWU) 6-1, 6-4
No.5 Martina Markov (WSU) def. Zoe Pradel (EWU) 6-1, 6-1
No.6 Sara Vasic (EWU) def. Madhu Satishabu (WSU) 6-2, 3-6, (10-8)

Order of Finish: 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 6
 

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ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.

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