CHENEY, Wash. — The home schedule is now complete for Eastern Washington women's tennis and the Eagles sent their seniors off with a victory. Eastern defeated Portland State, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon at the Jim Thorpe Fieldhouse. EWU won the doubles point to begin, and secured the match with four wins in singles. The team improves to 2-4 in the Big Sky and 4-12 overall.

"I was really happy with the way we came out today in doubles. I thought we had really good energy, even though we had a tough No. 1 match that they could not quite get. Our two freshmen and No. 2 really stepped up and played really well. We started up 2-0 with Portland State being down a team in doubles and a player in singles. I think that gave us a good boost in momentum, knowing we just had to dig in and get at least two of the singles matches," head coach Dustin Hinson explained. "Everyone on the team today had a different level of fight in them. We fought with the belief that we could come out on top. I saw belief on the court today that sometimes can be hard to find. I feel like we carried ourselves with confidence and belief; that made all the difference on the court. I'm really proud of everyone for the way they played." 
  
Beginning the match, Eastern's duo of Zoe Pradel and Olivia Marais handled their business against Nene Uemura and Ayra Salim, winning 6-1 at the No. 2 spot. The Vikings were forced to forfeit the No. 3 doubles, giving the Eagles the doubles point and an early match lead. 

Going into singles, Portland St. would also have to forfeit the No. 6 position, giving EWU a 2-0 lead in the match. 

At the No. 2 singles spot, Anait Arutiunian found her swing to defeat Hana Abdelhamid in two sets (6-2, 6-3). The win moved Eastern a point away from clinching the match. 

Kenzington Mann, on senior day, delivered the clinching point at the No. 3 singles. Mann knocked off Nene Uemura in two hard-fought sets, 7-5, and EWU clinched the match going up 4-1. 

Olivia Marais added on for the Eagles from the No. 5 spot, defeating Ayra Salim in a marathon three-set match. The first set went to Salim, winning 7-6 and 12-10 in the tiebreaker. Marais rebounded with a 6-3 victory in the second set. She closed out Salim in the third, 10-8.

Isabella Foshee left everything she had on the court in her final match in Cheney, playing at No. 1 against Nika Beukers. Foshee won the first set 6-4, but dropped the second 7-5. Beukers then earned the point with a 6-3 win in the third set. 

"I'm happy for Anait [Arutiunian], at No. 2, to get that win and then also Kenz [Mann], on senior day, to get her win at No. 3, which was big for us," Hinson added. "Olivia [Marais] at No. 5 came out and won the third tiebreaker; she played with really good composure and was happy with that effort. Unfortunately, Isabella at No. 1, had some cramping in the third set, but it was still really good tennis from her and a great match that she just couldn't pull off. Zoe [Pradel] at No. 4, I thought played a really tough match, which was just great tennis again. Portland St.'s player just came out a little bit too tough at the end, but Zoe was really striking the ball well. We're really just going to enjoy this win as a team and take this momentum into our next match at Montana. We've got a couple of really important matches as far as the conference race goes and we're going to be prepared to give it our all on the courts."

EWU is currently behind Portland State and Idaho State in the Big Sky standings, with both sitting at 3-5 in conference. The Vikings and Bengals have both completed their regular season schedules after this weekend. 

Up Next
Eastern Washington heads to Montana for two matches to finish up the regular season, starting against Montana State on Friday (April 18) at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. EWU plays its final regular season match against Montana on Sunday (April 20) at 9:30 a.m.

Results
Singles
Nika Beukers (PSU) def. Isabella Foshee (EWU) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
Anait Arutiunian (EWU) def. Hana Abdelhamid (PSU) 6-2, 6-3
Kenzington Mann (EWU) def. Nene Uemura (PSU) 7-5, 7-5
Kasumi Hirayama (PSU) def. Zoe Pradel (EWU) 6-4, 7-6, (7-3)
Olivia Marais (EWU) def. Ayra Salim (PSU) 6-7 (12-10) 6-3, 10-8
Sara Vasic (EWU) def. No player, forfeit

Doubles
Kasumi Hirayama / Nika Beukers (PSU) def. Kenzington Mann / Isabella Foshee (EWU) 6-2
Zoe Pradel / Olivia Marais (EWU) def. Nene Uemura / Ayra Salim (PSU) 6-1
Anait Arutiunian / Sara Vasic (EWU) def. No player, forfeit
 

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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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