BOX SCORE - PDF | HTML

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Facing the preseason conference favorites in the Idaho Vandals Friday, the Portland State men's tennis team raced out to a quick lead with a tight, doubles-point win, but the Vandals came back with wins in five of the six singles matches to take the dual 5-2 at Club Green Meadows.
 
"I thought the guys played extremely well today and competed really hard," PSU head coach Toby Krauel said after the match. "We just didn't have enough in singles to be able to pull the win out, but for the first conference match against the team predicted to win the conference, I think that we came out and played a really good match."
 
Portland State (1-2) led 1-0 after doubles thanks to a pair of wins at lines two and three. Junior Brent Wheeler and sophomore Ethan Lopez won their match at line three, beating Idaho's Felipe Fonseca and Rhys Richardson, 6-3, to put the Vikings up early in doubles.
 
Juniors Matt Pronesti and Wil Cochrane – Krauel's "Medford boys" – then followed with a come-from-behind win at line two, topping Idaho's Odon Barta and Mark Kovacs in a tiebreaker. Pronesti and Cochrane fought off two match points and were love-30 down while serving with a chance to force the tiebreaker at 5-6, but came back to extend the match each time.
 
Pronesti and Cochrane then withstood a comeback within the tiebreaker, as Barta and Kovacs fought off three straight match points themselves with Pronesti and Cochrane up 6-2 in the breaker. Pronesti and Cochrane converted on their fourth match point, however, giving the Vikings the doubles point over the Vandals (1-1).
 
The Vikings' upper hand in the match was short lived, however, as the Vandals won the first set in four of the first five singles matches. That hot start put the Vandals in control of the match, even as Portland State started to mount a comeback.
 
Senior Stuart Tierney tried to lead the Vikings' comeback at line one, as he bounced back after a tough first set to challenge Barta, ranked 15th in the ITA Mountain region, in the second. Tierney lost the first set to Barta, 6-0, but stayed on serve with Barta deep into the second set, and was serving to force a second-set tiebreaker at 6-5 down. Barta broke Tierney in the final game, however, giving him the 6-0, 7-5 win over Tierney.
 
Cochrane and Pronesti each fell in their singles matches soon after that, putting the Vikings on their heals at 3-1 down in the dual.
 
Lopez, however, again tried to rally the Vikings, as he mounted his own comeback in his match against Idaho's Jackson Varney at line two. Lopez lost the first set to Varney, 6-1, but then ran out to a 5-0 lead in the second. Varney came all the way back to put the second set back on serve at 5-4, but Lopez followed with a break to level the match at a set all. Lopez then found his groove in the third set, cruising to a 6-2 win in the third.
 
Lopez's win brought the Vikings back within one at 3-2, with matches still in progress at lines three and six.
 
Wheeler was battling in his match at line three at the time, as he and Fonseca took their match into a third set. Wheeler won the first set of the match in a tiebreaker, but Fonseca came back with a 6-3 win in the second. The players then traded early breaks to put the third set back on serve at 2-1, but Fonseca won the final four games of the match to clinch the dual for the Vandals with a 6-7, 6-3, 6-1 win over Wheeler.
 
Richardson then gave the Vandals' their fifth point in the dual with a 6-4, 6-4 win over the Vikings' Ian Risenhoover at line six.
 
The Vikings will now look to bounce back as they host the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans at 3 p.m. Monday at the Stott Center on the Portland State campus.

Match Notes: The Vikings fall to 0-11 all-time against Idaho with Friday's loss...The 5-2 defeat ties the Vikings' closest match against the Vandals in program history.

Idaho 5, Portland State 2
Jan 30, 2015 at Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) 

Singles competition

1. BARTA, Odon (UI) def. TIERNEY, Stuart (PSU) 6-0, 7-5

2. LOPEZ, Ethan (PSU) def. VARNEY, Jackson (UI) 1-6, 6-4, 6-2

3. FONSECA, Felipe (UI) def. WHEELER, Brent (PSU) 6-7, 6-3, 6-1

4. RAMOS SALAZAR, Crist (UI) def. COCHRANE, Wil (PSU) 6-3, 6-3

5. KOVACS, Mark (UI) def. PRONESTI, Matt (PSU) 7-5, 6-4

6. RICHARDSON, Rhys (UI) def. RISENHOOVER, Ian (PSU) 6-4, 6-4

 

Doubles competition

1. VARNEY, Jackson/RAMOS SALAZAR, Crist (UI) def. TIERNEY, Stuart/RISENHOOVER, Ian (PSU) 6-2

2. COCHRANE, Wil/PRONESTI, Matt (PSU) def. BARTA, Odon/KOVACS, Mark (UI) 7-6 (7-5)

3. WHEELER, Brent/LOPEZ, Ethan (PSU) def. FONSECA, Felipe/RICHARDSON, Rhys (UI) 6-3

 

Match Notes

Idaho 1-1

Portland State 1-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,4,5,2,3,6)