PULLMAN, Wash. — The first tournament of the fall schedule for Eastern Washington women's tennis is complete as the team finished the Cougar Classic today. EWU competed at the three-day tournament in Pullman to get their first live action of the season.
"I'm very pleased with the start of our fall season after less than a week of training for everybody," head coach
Dustin Hinson said. "I was really happy with doubles. We won eight out of 11 matches on the weekend, so really high success. I would say highlighted by
Zoe Pradel and
Olivia Marais, who I teamed up with last year as freshman; they just really are playing well. But everybody including Sara [Vasic] and Veronika [Gayevyk] played well together. Maria [Lopez] and Leandra [Nizetic] played very well."
Leandra Nizetic grabbed three singles wins in the B Draw group, defeating Portland's Meagan Pearson (6-0, 6-3) on day one and Montana's Shivika Agrawal (6-0, 5-7, 6-1) on day two. On day three, Nizetic knocked off Idaho's Soha Singh 1-6, 7-6, 10-2.
The senior found victory in doubles as well, joining with freshman Maria Lopez to defeat Pearson and Kennedy Harris (8-4). Nizetic and Lopez defeated Montana's Agrawal and Kamila Slovakova on day two (8-2).
In the A Draw, Anait Arutiunian and Veronika Gayevyk partnered up to earn a win in the doubles match against Portland's Dariya Radulova and Isabella Marquart, 8–4. Gayevyk did pick up a win in singles against Marquart, 2-0 after she withdrew for injury.
Zoe Pradel and Olivia Marais gave EWU another strong doubles weekend performance, defeating Portland's N. Martinez and Lexie Flores, 8-2, on the first day in the B Draw group. The two followed up with a 8-3 win over Kaylin Kielty and Monika Fizova from Montana on day two. Pradel and Marais won the consolation bracket on day three, defeating Gonzaga's K. Brown and S. Johnson, 8-3.
Marais defeated Kielty, 6-2, 6-3 in singles on the second day, and capped off her tournament with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Johnson.
Aneliss Zamfirescu showed up in her first collegiate tournament, winning two singles matches. She started against Lewis and Clark's N. Montero in two sets (6-0, 7-5). Zamfirescu followed up with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over G. Heim.
Adding to her success, Zamfirescu played with Sara Vasic in doubles, winning another two matches. The two Eagles defeated G. Gettman and Heim, 8-4. Zamfirescu and Vasic the added a 8-3 win over A. Ruiz and Montero.
Vasic won her first singles match, 6-4, 6-2 against Ruiz.
"With singles, I'm pleased with the talent we have between the returners and freshmen," Hinson added. "We had some really good wins and close matches that we fought through. The main thing is we fought through and competed hard. If we can string things together in a match; things will go well. On the weekend on singles, Leandra won all three of her matches, which was great to see."
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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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