SPOKANE, Wash. — Eastern Washington women's tennis traveled back to the Stevens Center in Spokane to play Boise State on Saturday night. The Broncos defeated Eastern 4-0, clinching the match victory midway through singles. BSU is ranked 59th in the ITA polls. 

"This is a nationally ranked team so we faced a really good opponent. We were excited for the challenge," head coach Dustin Hinson explained. "I thought the team really did well energy wise and we fought and battled in every match. We trusted that the game and the training that we've been working on in our tactics, which was awesome to see. I'm really happy with the level of play that we showed and it's really a perfect time to face this kind of opponent. This kind of competition, as we go into conference matches, shows us kind of where we're at, and it encourages us as we move forward"

The Broncos picked up 6-2 wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles to grab a 1-0 lead in the match.

BSU then won matches at No. 3 and No. 4 to move to 3-0 and a point away from clinching the match. Despite the effort from Anait Arutiunian at No. 2, BSU's Tereza Polakova won the match for the Broncos with a two-set victory. 

Leandra Nizetic was in the middle of highly-contested matches at No. 1, dropping the first set in a 7-5 tiebreaker. Olivia Marais was also locked in tight battle at No. 5, with the match going to a third set prior to Boise's clinching point. 

The team is excited for what's coming up and they left it on the court today," Hinson added. "We're ready for a new week of training and then put it into Montana State on Friday and Montana on Sunday."

Results
Singles
No. 1 Leandra Nizetic (EWU) vs. Zdena Safarova (BSU) 6-7 (5-7) unfinished
No. 2 Tereza Polakova (BSU) def. Anait Arutiunian(EWU) 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 Masa Viriant (BSU) def. Zoe Pradel (EWU) 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 Allison Isaacs (BSU) def. Veronika Gayevyk (EWU) 6-1, 6-1
No. 5 Olivia Marais (EWU) vs. Paula Schaefer (BSU) 1-6, 6-3, 0-1 unfinished
No. 6 Aneliss Zamfirescu (EWU) def. Carla Grignac (BSU) 3-6, 5-5 unfinished 

Doubles
No. 1 Zdena Safarova / Tereza Polakova (BSU) def. Olivia Marais / Zoe Pradel (EWU) 6-2
No. Paula Schaefer / Stella Beldiman (BSU) def. Anait Arutiunian / Veronika Gayevyk (EWU) 6-2
No. 3 Maria Lopez / Leandra Nizetic (EWU)  vs. Carla Grignac / Lorelyz Marruffo (BSU) 4-4 unfinished

Up Next
EWU begins Big Sky competition next week, starting with Montana State on Friday (March 6), with first serve at 10 a.m. The Eagles then host Montana on Sunday at 10 a.m.
 

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