BOZEMAN, Mont. — Eastern Washington women's tennis began its final road trip of the season on Friday morning against Montana State. The Bobcats defended their home court with a 6-1 win over the Eagles. Eastern falls to 2-5 in the conference and 4-13 overall this season. MSU improves to 4-4 in conference and 10-10 overall.

"This was a battle and a close match despite the 6-1 result. All of the matches were really hard-fought battles," head coach Dustin Hinson said. "We really had a good shot at the doubles point. I was super impressed with our freshman who played together at number two for one the better doubles matches I've seen start to finish. It's pretty incredible to win 6-0 when they just played really amazing together so that's exciting to see them come together as a team. We had our chances at number three doubles, being literally a point away from securing the doubles point, but just couldn't quite get the win." 

The Bobcats opened with a 1-0 lead after winning two doubles matches. Zoe Pradel and Olivia Marais began doubles with a 6-0 sweep over Angel Bean and Kavya Khirwar at the No. 2 position. Leandra Nizetic and Sara Vasic nearly won in the No. 3 doubles match to get the point, but lost 7-5 to Andrea Cuquerella and Mar Garcia-Reboredo. 

In the singles round, MSU won five-of-six matches to secure the match victory.

Pradel continued her strong day, winning at the No. 4 spot over Nia Gelashvili. The freshman earned a 1-0 lead after a competitive 7-5 win in set one. Gelashvili extended the match with a 6-4 win in the second set. Now into the third, Pradel cruised to the point after winning 6-3 over Gelashvili. 

At No. 3 singles, Kenzington Mann fought until the end against Jojo Bach, falling in three sets. Mann won the first set 6-4, but Bach won the next two sets 6-2.

Hinson discussed his team's fight in singles, "We then went into singles and battled super tough. I was really happy for Zoe [Pradel], who is another one of our freshmen. She ended up getting her singles victory in three sets, playing another hard-fought, great match. I'm happy for her to get that success on the court. Our senior, Kenzington [Mann], had a tough three-set match. Isabella [Foshee] at number one was also a close match. Olivaia Marais, at number five, was really close, but lost a tiebreaker. We're just looking to prepare ourselves for the last match of the regular season against Montana on Sunday as that will be another battle like today."

Up Next
Eastern Washington will play its final regular season match on Sunday against Montana in Missoula, with first serve at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Time. 

Results
Singles
Mar Garcia-Reboredo (MSU) def. Isabella Foshee (EWU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-2
Meg McCarty (MSU) def. Leandra Nizetic (EWU) 6-2, 6-0
Jojo Bach (MSU) def. Kenzington Mann (EWU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-2
Zoe Pradel (EWU) def. Nia Gelashvili (MSU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-3
Angel Bean (MSU) def. Olivia Marais (EWU) 7-6 (7-0), 6-2
Mia Ljubas (MSU) def. Sara Vasic (EWU) 6-0, 6-2

Doubles
Jojo Bach / Meg McCarty (MSU) def. Kenzington Mann / Isabella Foshee (EWU) 6-1
Zoe Pradel / Olivia Marais (EWU) def. Angel Bean / Kavya Khirwar (MSU) 6-0
Andrea Cuquerella / Mar Garcia-Reboredo (MSU) def. Leandra Nizetic / Sara Vasic (EWU) 7-5
 

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