Cougars women’s tennis dominant in final regular season match
MIKE MAYNARD | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 2 months AGO
Seniors Hania Abouelsaad and Elyse Tse led the way in the Cougars 5-0 victory over Santa Clara.
COURTESY PHOTO/WSU ATHLETICS
PULLMAN – Washington State’s women’s tennis (16-7) finished their regular season with a strong 5-0 win over Santa Clara, led by seniors Hania Abouelsaad and Elyse Tse, according to a statement by Washington State University Athletics.
With the win, WSU ended its regular season 6-2 in West Coast Conference play. The Cougars closed out their home schedule with a perfect 11-0 record, the best home record in program history, eclipsing the 8-0 mark from 2020 when the season was cut short due to the COVID pandemic. Santa Clara falls to 8-12, 2-4.
The match began outside, and midway through, doubles play was halted due to rain. After a 13-minute delay, play resumed as the rain held off long enough to complete doubles. Another rain shower forced the singles matches to move inside to Hollingbery Fieldhouse.
In doubles play, Santa Clara struck first as the No. 2 doubles team of Danielle Dimitrova and Anna Rahman posted a 6-3 win over Tse and Chisato Kanemaki. The Cougars responded as the No. 3 duo of Abouelsaad and Martina Markov defeated Velizara Fileva and Kacey Feng, 6-4, while WSU's Eva Alvarez Sande and Maxine Murphy, ranked No. 44 nationally, clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win over Jillian Roa and Tian Yu Dong at No. 1.
In singles action, Abouelsaad set the tone as she raced through a 6-1, 6-0 win over Roa at No. 4 singles, pushing the Cougar lead to 2-0. Alvarez Sande quickly followed suit, completing a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 2 over Fileva.
Murphy clinched the team win as she had little trouble with Dimitrova at No. 1, winning 6-2, 6-2, giving WSU a 4-0 lead with three matches remaining. Tse then put a bow on her home season with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Dong at No. 3.
With the team outcome decided, two matches were abandoned as Markov led Rahman, 6-0, 1-4 at No. 5 and Martina Puvill was leading Juliette Krumholz at No. 6.
The Cougars begin play at the 2025 West Coast Conference Championships on Thursday, April 24, in San Diego.
DOUBLES
No. 1 #44 Eva Alvarez Sande/Maxine Murphy (WSU) def. Jillian Roa/Tian Yu Dong (SCU) 6-4
No. 2 Daniella Dimitrova/Anna Rahman (SCU) def. Elyse Tse/Chisato Kanemaki (WSU) 6-3
No. 3 Hania Abouelsaad/Martina Markov (WSU) def. Velizara Fileva/Kacey Feng (SCU) 6-4
Order of Finish: 2,3,1
SINGLES
No. 1 Maxine Murphy (WSU) def. Daniella Dimitrova (SCU) 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 Eva Alvarez Sande (WSU) def. Velizara Fileva (SCU) 6-0, 6-3
No. 3 Elyse Tse (WSU) def. Tian Yu Dong (SCU) 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 Hania Abouelsaad (WSU) def. Jillian Roa (SCU) 6-1, 6-0
No. 5 Martina Markov (WSU) vs. Anna Rahman (SCU) 6-1, 1-4 DNF
No. 6 Martina Puvill (WSU) vs. Juliette Krumholz (SCU) 6-4, 1-1 DNF
Order of Finish: 4,2,1,3
ARTICLES BY MIKE MAYNARD
Correia reflects on making All-State team
COULEE CITY — Multiple basin athletes qualified to play in the All-State Baseball Series from June 27-28 in Yakima, with Almira/Coulee-Hartline graduate, Caden Correia being one of them. Correia said he was initially selected for a feeder game ahead of his state qualification. “I was at practice one day, and my head coach (Hunter Lee) came up to me and he’s like, ‘Hey, you got selected for an All State feeder game,’” said Correia. “I actually got invited to two, the Central Washington one and the Spokane one.” Correia said he decided to go with the Spokane feeder game since it was taking place at Avista Stadium and he had a desire to compete at that venue. Once he played there, Correia was informed that he was also selected to play for Team Baker in the All State games, an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.
Quincy standout ‘Duckie’ Workinger returns home to lead Vikings womens wrestling
MOSES LAKE — Shannon “Duckie” Workinger was named the new head coach of women’s wrestling at Big Bend Community College on June 18, bringing one of the Basin’s own back to help build the next generation of women’s wrestlers. “I'm super excited,” Workinger said. “I spent some time wrestling at different places, and it feels really good to be able to come back to the community that I was born in and really establish more connections here and build on the ones that I already have, and just help grow our Basin into a great wrestling (community), even better than it already is, because we have some good wrestlers that come from here.”
ACH wrestlers earn All-American honors at women’s national duals
COULEE CITY — Karis Butler and Kyanna Garza from Almira/Coulee-Hartline earned All-American status after a strong showing in the 2026 Women’s National Duals in Westfield, Indiana that ran from June 16-20. “It feels really good,” Karis said. “It was very surprising last year when I got on here, and then this year they were like, ‘You can go to whatever weight class you want,’ and it made me feel very recognized for the hard work I've put in.” Wrestlers competed in freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman throughout the four-day tournament. Karis competed in both earning a 7-1 record in freestyle and 4-3 in Greco-Roman. Throughout her path in the tournament, she noted a lot of growth as a wrestler came out of it.