Sept. 13, 2015 Cougar Classic Day 3 Results 
PULLMAN, Wash.--For the second year in a row, the Gonzaga University women's tennis team placed a freshman in the singles final of the Cougar Classic as the Zags wrapped up their first tournament on the Outdoor Tennis Courts on the Washington State University campus in Pullman.
This year, it was Sophie Whittle who reached the final, taking down the bracket's top seed Maria Biryukova Sunday morning in the semifinals. Whittle beat the Cougar in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 to move on. In the final, however, WSU's Donika Bashota prevailed in a closely-contested two-setter 7-5, 6-4.
In 2014, current sophomore Alex Bourguignon advanced to the title match of the singles bracket, also finishing second.
Whittle also competed in the championship match of the doubles bracket, playing alongside senior Samantha Polayes. The two took on the WSU duo of Bashota and Lize Leenknecht and forced extra tennis, falling 7-6 in a tiebreak.
Five Zags played in a consolation singles match with three coming out victorious. Freshman Nevada Apollo was just one game away from a sweep, beating Laura Middel of MSU 6-1,6-0, while fellow freshman Domonique Garley took down Angelina Philippova of Montana State 6-1, 6-2. Wrapping up Gonzaga's singles wins, Polayes easily got past Hannah Sulz of Montana with a 6-1, 6-3 scoreline.
Rounding out singles action, Graciela Rosas lost in two sets to Montana's Francis Dean, and Bourguignon lost in three sets to WSU's Aneta Miksovska.
The sophomore did get a win earlier in the day as she and Rosas combined to sweep Molly Crum and Naomi Holopainen of Montana State 6-0 while Garley and Apollo edged Montana's Lidia Dukic and Stanzi Stuijt 7-5.
"It was a great weekend, especially considering we had just two days of 20-hours-a-week practice before coming here," said GU women's tennis assistant coach Megan Falcon. "We did pretty well, and we saw a few areas of improvement we can work towards. I'm blessed to work with such a great group of players, and I'm particularly happy the freshmen got their first tournament under their belt."
The Zags have a few more weeks of practice before their next event, the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational. That tournament will take place Friday, Oct. 9 through Sunday, Oct. 11 in Moraga, Calif.
