PORTLAND, Ore. — Lincoln High School's Taylor Rees, the No. 1-ranked tennis player in the state of Oregon according to tennisrecruiting.net, has signed a national letter of intent and will join the Portland State women's tennis team next season, head coach Jay Sterling announced Friday.
 
"We are very happy to have Taylor joining the Viking family," Sterling said. "It's really special to have local talent stay close to home. That's something we take a lot of pride in – giving opportunities to capable and deserving Oregon talent."
 
Rees, who also ranks as the fourth-best player in the Northwest, has made waves in her prep career within the state of Oregon, as she and her sister, Emily Rees, are coming off a 2015 district doubles championship in which they didn't drop a game en route to the title.
 
Since then, the Rees sisters have started their pursuit of their first state title together, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the OSAA 6A State Doubles Tournament with a 6-0, 6-0 win over Century High School's Eka and Neyen Essien Thursday. Taylor and her sister Emily earned the top overall seed in the doubles draw this season, and entered the tournament as the favorites to win the title after finishing as the runners-up last season.
 
Taylor and her sister Emily will next face Lake Oswego's Olivia Dozois and Bridget Myers in the quarterfinals Friday at 11 a.m. at Tualatin Hills Tennis Center, and will advance to the semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday if they can win. The championship match of the 6A doubles draw will be Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
 
Outside of this season, Rees won two state team titles with Lincoln in 2012 and 2013, and finished third at the Girls 18s Doubles Tournament in Tucson, Ariz., with her sister Emily in 2013.
 
As a Viking, Rees will join a deep team that returns its top four singles players from last season, when the Vikings qualified for the Big Sky Tournament for the second straight season. However, despite the returning depth, Sterling expects Rees to challenge for a spot in the Vikings' lineup right away as a freshman.
 
"Taylor intends to come to the program and make an immediate contribution to the team, and she has the talent and skill-set to make that happen," Sterling said. "She does a lot of things well and she enjoys competing, so as a coach, she'll be a lot of fun to work with, and as a fan, she'll be a lot of fun to watch play."
 
Rees is the first member of the Vikings' 2015 signing class, as Sterling looks to replace departed seniors Megan Govi and Alexa McDonald, who left the Viking program ranked first and second, respectively, in all-time singles wins.