DAY ONE RESULTS

SPOKANE, Wash. — It was gut-check time for the Portland State men's tennis team Friday, and the Vikings responded, posting comeback win after comeback win on the first day of the Gonzaga Fall Tournament at the Stevens Center.
 
The Vikings posted four comeback wins Friday, part of nine total wins for the team, as they went 9-5 overall between the singles and doubles draws.
 
"It was really a day of comebacks for us, and never saying die," PSU head coach Toby Krauel said. "The guys just had an unbelievable attitude today, and I'm really proud of them."
 
The Vikings' first comeback of the day may have been their best, as senior Brent Wheeler and junior Ian Risenhoover came back from a 2-7 deficit to win the final fives games and a tiebreaker in their second-round doubles match against Montana State's Andrew Napolitano and Kellen Bates, the fourth seed in the draw. Wheeler and Risenhoover dominated the tiebreaker against Napolitano and Bates, beating them 7-4 in the breaker to take the match 8-7 (4).
 
Risenhoover took the comeback attitude into his singles match, too, as he came back from a set down to post dominant second- and third-set victories in his first-round match against Gonzaga's Joey Brandt. Risenhoover, the fifth seed in the lower flight of the singles draw, dropped a tough first set to Brandt 6-2, but then seemingly flipped a switch after that and won the second and third set by identical 6-1 scores.
 
Senior Stuart Tierney and sophomore Ethan Lopez, meanwhile, each came back from a set down to win their first-round singles matches in the top flight of the singles draw. Tierney lost the first set of his match to Idaho's Mark Kovacs, 6-4, but then leveled the match with a 6-3 win in the second set. Tierney and Kovacs then played a tight third set that went to a tiebreaker, which Tierney gutted out, 7-4, to win the match 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
 
Lopez also dropped his first set against Seattle University's John Stormans, 6-4, but then rallied with a 6-4 win in the second. Lopez then broke late in a close third set to take the decisive lead in the match, and closed out the win, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
 
Outside of the comebacks, junior Matt Pronesti recorded a big upset in the lower flight of the singles draw, beating the top seed in the flight, Montana State's Javier Martin-Morillas, in straight sets. Pronesti won the first set against Martin-Morillas in a tiebreaker, 7-5, and then took the second set 6-4.
 
Pronesti teamed up with Tierney to post a pair of doubles wins Friday as well to advance to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw starting Saturday. Pronesti and Tierney, the third seed in the doubles draw, won their first-round match 8-4 over Eastern Washington's Stefan Farrar and Brady Hislop, and then followed that up with an 8-3 win over Gonzaga's Chris Dalton and Connor Arend in the second round.
 
Wheeler and Risenhoover also ended with two doubles wins Friday after their comeback in the second round. Besides the comeback, Wheeler and Risenhoover posted a dominant 8-3 win over Montana's Alex Braun and Peter Szentes in the first round.
 
Junior Wil Cochrane also won his first-round singles match in the lower flight of the draw, overcoming a loss in a second-set tiebreaker to beat the University of Portland's Ethan Ogard 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-3.
 
Cochrane will now play Montana's Tom Witteveen in the second round at 12 p.m. (PT) Saturday. If Cochrane can win that, then he'll play at 7 p.m. Saturday in the quarterfinals, where he may meet Pronesti. Pronesti will first have to beat Seattle's Connor Leahy in their second-round match at 11:30 a.m., though.
 
Besides them, Risenhoover will play the Szentes at 12 p.m. (PT). If he wins that, then he'll play in the quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m.
 
In the top flight of the singles draw, Tierney will play the University of Portland's Jared Madison in the second round at 10 a.m. (PT). If Tierney wins that, then he'll play at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals, where he could face the top overall seed in the singles draw in Gonzaga's Alvaro Nazal.
 
Lopez, meanwhile, plays the second overall seed in the second round Saturday, facing off against Gonzaga's Nick Kamisar at 11 a.m. (PT).
 
In doubles, the Vikings' teams of Tierney and Pronesti and Wheeler and Risenhoover will each play in the quarterfinals at 8 a.m. (PT). Tierney and Pronesti will face Montana State's Niklas Brandes and Harry James in the quarterfinals, while Wheeler and Risenhoover will face the University of Portland's Mathieu Garcia and Pierre Garcia.
 
Several Vikings will also play in the back draws of both singles flights Saturday, after losing their first-round matches Friday. Wheeler will face the Bobcats' James in the first round of the top flight back draw at 3 p.m. (PT). Sophomores Jonathan Pike and Nacor Ibanez, meanwhile, will play Seattle University's Anatliy Beynars and Montana State's Dylan Harvala at 5 and 5:30 p.m. (PT), respectively, in the back draw of the lower singles flight.