PULLMAN, WASH. – Seattle U women’s tennis starts their fall slate tomorrow at the Cougar Classic, hosted by Washington State University at the WSU Outdoor Tennis Courts from Oct. 4-6. Play will begin at 10:00 a.m. PT each day.
The tournament includes players from Boise State, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Idaho, Montana, Montana State, Seattle, Utah State and Washington State.
In the Crimson Singles draw, Seattle U will be represented by senior Peggy Rooke and junior Hannah Gianan, while the Gray Singles bracket features junior Kyra Jung, sophomore Jillian Rasmussen and freshman Jade Lancaster. The Cougar Singles flight will include junior Michelle Bader and sophomores Aranza Alvarez-Sanabria and Alisa Sabotic; finally, sophomores Hannah Grossman and Martina Asciuto make up the Redhawk presence in the Palouse Singles field.
Grossman and Lancaster, will partner up for the Crimson Doubles flight, as will Bader and Jung and the dangerous duo of Rooke and Gianan. The Gray Doubles bracket will include the pair of Sabotic and Alvarez-Sanabria, in addition to an Asciuto-Rasmussen tandem.
This year, Seattle U brings in four newcomers and returns seven from last year’s squad.
Aranza Alvarez-Sanabria, a sophomore, hails from Mexico City, Mexico, and is the younger sister of Seattle U men’s tennis player Adrian Alvarez-Sanabria. Last year, she went 2-2 in singles tournament play.
Martina Asciuto, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif., was the Western Athletic Conference Female Singles Athlete of the Week for Jan. 29-Feb. 4, 2019. She was 5-9 in singles dual play last season.
Michelle Bader is a junior from Wolfegg, Germany. She transferred to Seattle U from Missouri Valley College, where she was named to the Heart of America Athletic Conference First Team in singles and doubles for both 2018 and 2019.
Hannah Gianan, a junior from Camas, Wash., was 14-13 overall last year for the Redhawks in singles play. She often filled the number one singles slot throughout the season.
Hannah Grossman, a sophomore from Henderson, Nev., was a staple for Seattle U in doubles play last season. She went 5-12 overall, including a conference win.
Celeste Inouye is a freshman from Honolulu, Hawaii. She qualified for State all four years during her time at ‘Iolani School, and was 21-3 in first doubles for the 2019 season.
Kyra Jung, a junior hailing from Columbus, Ohio, turned in a solid performance for her sophomore season after winning WAC Freshman of the Year in 2017-18. In the 2018-19 season, she went 10-15 overall in singles and 8-15 in doubles play.
Jade Lancaster, a freshman from Lake Tapps, Wash., was her team’s MVP and went to State all four years at Sumner High School, outright winning the singles tournament in 2016 and 2017. She went undefeated her freshman year and only lost one match as a sophomore.
Jillian Rasmussen, a sophomore from Phoenix, went 9-10 overall last season in doubles play, including 1-0 in WAC matchups. Last year at the Cougar Classic, she posted a 6-0 doubles win.
Peggy Rooke, a senior from Malmö, Sweden, comes to Seattle U from Morgan State University. She was MVP of Morgan State’s tennis team in 2019 and was also named to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Second Team.
Alisa Sabotic, a sophomore from Okemos, Mich., was undefeated in dual doubles play last season. She went 3-3 in tournament singles play.