PORTLAND, Ore. - The Portland State men's tennis team will close its season with a final Big Sky conference match at Eastern Washington and a non-conference contest at Lewis-Clark State April 15 and 16. The Vikings will look to finish strong and attempt to finish in the top-six of the conference for a second-straight season, after finishing seventh in 2009.
The men entered the weekend with their backs against the wall in Montana against both Montana State and Montana. The Vikings No. 1 and 2 doubles pairs,
Chris Rice and
Roman Margoulis, and
Alex VanDerschelden and
Mitch Somach, were in the hunt for the team's first point of the match against the Bobcats.
Rice and Margoulis battled but fell 8-5 at No. 1, while VanDerschelden and Somach took their opponents down to the wire at No. 2 but fell 8-7. In singles, Somach and Margoulis would redeem the losses to earn singles victories for the team. The wins by the duo were not enough to overcome the deficit and Viks would fall, 5-2.
The following day, PSU went to Missoula to take on the Griz in hopes of redeeming themselves. VanDerschelden and Somach again battled down to the wire in doubles, but ultimately fell 8-7(4). Somach won his singles match in three sets with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 to lead the Vikings in the 6-1 loss.
Somach, a native of San Diego Calif., leads the Vikings in wins and winning-percentage at nine and .563 percent this season, respectively. He also has the Vikings longest win streak of the season at four matches. Somach came to Portland State after spending a year at Oregon, where he participated in the fall tennis season.
Eastern Washington, also playing its final Big Sky match of the season, enters the contest 8-13 overall and 3-4 in conference contests. Leading the Eagles this season is Fernando Mussolini, the team's No. 1 player, with a 10-11 record in 2011 and a team-leading four conference wins. EWU has conference over Northern Colorado, Idaho State and Montana.
Lewis-Clark State, a small NAIA college in Lewiston, Idaho, features a record of 8-7 this season, competing in the Frontier Conference. The men's team is consistently one of the top men's programs in the country, having won 13 regional championships and making 20 NAIA Tournament appearances since 1989. It will be the Warriors fourth match of the season against a Division I opponent (0-3).
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