Complete match notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's tennis team (4-4, 1-2 Big Sky) begin a six-week road trip at Idaho State and Weber State this weekend. The Vikings play at Idaho State in Pocatello, Idaho, Saturday at 9 a.m. (MT), and then face Weber State in Ogden, Utah, Sunday at 10 a.m. (MT).
 
SCOUTING IDAHO STATE:
The Idaho State Bengals (0-3, 0-2 Big Sky) have had a tough start to their 2015 dual season, as they've lost a pair of tight matches to Weber State and Montana State to open Big Sky play two weekends ago. The Bengals lost 4-3 to the Bobcats at home, less than a week after the Vikings beat the Bobcats 5-2 at Club Green Meadows. The Bengals have a veteran roster this season, however, as all eight of the team's players are juniors or seniors, while seven of the eight players are returners from last season. Junior Kasey Bacon has started the season at line one for the Bengals, while senior Marian Tangarife has a 2-1 record so far at line two, and junior Svenja Tegtmeier has played all three matches at line three. The Bengals have alternated their lineup at lines four through six, meanwhile, but have stuck to the same doubles teams in all three matches so far. Tangarife has teamed with junior Laura Theus to go 0-3 at line one so far this season, while Tegtmeier and junior Wiebke Boeckmann have gone 0-2 at line two, and Bacon and junior Madelyn Weltzin have gone 1-2 at line three.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS IDAHO STATE:
The Vikings are 5-8 all-time against Idaho State, but have won five of the last seven matches in the series, including the last three matches at Idaho State. The Vikings beat Idaho State 4-0 last season, when the Bengals were forced to forfeit the matches at line three in doubles and line six in singles.
 
SCOUTING WEBER STATE:
The Weber State Wildcats (3-2, 1-0 Big Sky) opened Big Sky with a 5-2 win over Idaho State on Feb. 11, but haven't played since then. The Wildcats had been playing well at the time of their win over the Bengals, as they had also beaten Seattle, 5-2, and Colorado Mesa, 6-1, earlier in the season. The Wildcats return five players from their 2014 team that narrowly lost, 4-3, to the Vikings at Club Green Meadows. The Wildcats have been more reliant on their freshmen so far, however, as three of the team's top five singles players this season have all been freshmen. Juniors Agata Bachanek and Kristi Elmer have played at line one and two so far this season, but three freshmen follow them at lines three, four and five. Bachanek, an All-Big Sky honorable mention last season, has a 4-1 record at line one for the Wildcats this season, as well as a 4-1 record with Elmer at line one in doubles. Additionally, Bachanek handed PSU junior Dané Vorster one of her worst losses last season, as she beat Vorster 6-2, 6-1, and should be poised for a rematch against Vorster this Sunday. Elmer, meanwhile, has a 2-3 record at line two, while freshmen Dominique Beauvais, Romy Dodd-Stephens and Emily Tanner have 3-2, 3-2 and 2-3 records at lines three, four and five, respectively. The Wildcats have changed things up at times at line six, though freshman Devi Hasan has played the best of the team's options at the spot, as she has gone 2-1 so far. The Wildcats have also changed things up at line three in doubles, as four different teams have played for them at the spot this season. The Wildcats have generally been a strong doubles team, however, as they've won the doubles point in three of their five matches so far. Besides Bachanek and Elmer, Beauvais and Dodd-Stephens also have a 3-2 record at line two for the Wildcats.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS WEBER STATE:
The Vikings are just 3-11 all-time against the Wildcats, but have won two of the last three matches in the series. The teams' last three matches have all been extremely tight, as all three have been decided by 4-3 scores. The Vikings lost 4-3 on the road to the Wildcats in 2013, which was the closest they've come to beating the Wildcats on the road in their six previous matches in Ogden, Utah.
 
VIKINGS FALL TO SACRAMENTO STATE, 5-2:
The Vikings fell 5-2 to 13-time defending Big Sky champion Sacramento State last Sunday. The Vikings won the doubles point over the Hornets, but lost five of the six singles matches to lose the dual overall. Junior Dané Vorster and freshman Siena Peri beat the Hornets' Jennifer Ong and Olivia Boija 6-4 at line one in doubles, while sophomores Tracy Dong and Sabina-Elena Preda beat the Hornets' Alina Soltanici and Deimante Bulatovaite 6-4 at line two to seal the doubles point for the Vikings. Preda then pulled out a 6-2, 7-5 win over Boija at line four in singles to give the Vikings their second point in the dual.
 
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Vikings continue on the road at Colorado College and Northern Colorado next weekend. The Vikings play at Colorado College on March 7, and then play at Northern Colorado the next day, March 8. Both matches will begin at 10 a.m. (MT).
 
SABINA-ELENA PREDA IS GETTING HOT:
Sophomore Sabina-Elena Preda has caught fire for the Vikings lately, as she's won five straight matches, all in straight sets. Preda has dropped two games or less in seven of the 10 sets she's played over her current five-match winning streak, while Preda has also won four of her last five doubles matches with partner Tracy Dong. Overall this season, Preda leads the Vikings with a 9-3 singles record, and leads the Big Sky with a 3-0 record at line four in singles. Preda has four wins overall at line four this season, which already ranks tied for the sixth-best single-season total in Portland State history. Current senior Megan Govi set the record for most wins at line four in 2013, when she recorded 10 wins at the spot.
 
PUZZLING TROUBLE WITH DOUBLES:
The Vikings have had an odd struggle in doubles this season, as they are just 3-5 in doubles so far this season. The five doubles-point losses already match the Vikings' total losses from their entire 2014 regular season, when the Vikings went 10-5 in doubles during the regular season. The Vikings also went 13-11 in doubles in 2013, as they have typically been a strong team in doubles as a program. The team's struggles in doubles has not been a huge drain on the Vikings so far, though, as the Vikings have come back to win the dual two times already this season after losing the doubles point.
 
HISTORY MAKERS:
Senior Megan Govi's win over Seattle's Sari Kwee on Feb. 13 pushed Govi further into the all-time lead in career singles wins, as she now has 38 wins in her Portland State career, 11 more than any other player in the Vikings' program since the records date back to the 1995 season. Fellow senior Alexa McDonald also moved closer to the all-time win leaders with her win over Seattle's Audrey Scott, as she now has 26 wins in her career, ranking her one win away from moving into a tie for second all-time with Leinani McAneney and Marti Pellicano. Sophomore Kelsey Frey has also moved up the career ranks this season, as she ranks tied for 11th all-time with 14 career wins. Meanwhile, in doubles, Govi ranks just one win behind all-time leader Anya Dalkin, who set the record with 30 doubles wins from 2008-11. Frey, meanwhile, moved into a tie for eighth all-time with her win along with Megan Govi in the team's match against Seattle on Feb. 13. Frey now has 17 career doubles wins, and will move into a tie for sixth all-time with two more wins.
 
CHALLENGING SCHEDULE:
The Vikings set up a challenging schedule for themselves in 2015, as the team searches for a return trip to the Big Sky Tournament. In order to do that, the Vikings will have to face seven things they have never done before as a program. Coming into the season, the Vikings had never beaten Montana, Montana State or Sacramento State during the regular season, and had never beaten Northern Colorado, Northern Arizona, Weber State or Southern Utah on the road. So far, the Vikings have gone 1-2 in facing those challenges this season, as the Vikings beat Montana State 5-2 on Feb. 7, but lost 5-2 to Montana and Sacramento State on Feb. 15 and 22, respectively.
 
DEPTH OF RETURNERS:
The Vikings return five of their six singles players from their historic 2014 season, including All-Big Sky first-team selection Dané Vorster, who played at No. 1 singles and doubles for the Vikings last season. Senior Megan Govi also returns for the Vikings after earning All-Big Sky honorable mention honors last season, a season in which she became the all-time singles wins leader at Portland State. Senior Alexa McDonald, the all-time wins leader at No. 5 and 6 singles for the Vikings, also returns this season, as well as sophomore Sabina-Elena Preda and junior Ayaka Terakawa. Additionally, the Vikings get back sophomore Kelsey Frey, who had to sit out the entire 2014 season due to an injury but had a highly successful freshman season in 2013.
 
NEWCOMERS:
In addition to their deep class of returners, the Vikings also added three talented newcomers in sophomore transfer Tracy Dong and freshmen Siena Peri and Alana Chaplin. Peri, a four-star recruit coming out of high school, has already asserted herself at or near the top of the Vikings' singles lineup, having played two matches already this season at No. 1 singles, and five more at line two. Dong, meanwhile, leads the Vikings with a 6-1 dual-season record so far, and has won five straight matches for the Vikings. Dong came to the Vikings after playing her freshman season at the Univeristy of Missouri, where she went 9-14 in singles against a challenging schedule within the SEC. Chaplin, finally, adds a lot of experience in Division I athletics even as a freshman, as she's the daughter of Oregon State head and associate head gymnastics coaches Tanya and Michael Chaplin.
 
FALL SEASON RECAP:
The Vikings played in four tournaments during their 2014 fall season, and went 26-30 combined as a team in singles, and 11-19 combined in doubles while playing 12 different doubles pairings. Sophomore Sabina-Elena Preda had the best singles record for the Vikings in the fall, as she went 4-1 over the last two tournaments of the season. Senior Megan Govi also went 4-3 for the Vikings in singles, while newcomers Tracy Dong and Siena Peri went 5-5 and 4-4, respectively. Peri also won the back draw of the Beach Tennis Fall Invitational, and posted a 4-2 record with junior Dané Vorster in doubles.
 
2014 SEASON RECAP:
The Vikings posted their most successful season to date in 2014, as they qualified for the Big Sky Tournament for the first time in program history, finishing fourth in the conference during the regular-season with a program-best 6-3 record in Big Sky play. Then-sophomore Dané Vorster led the Vikings with a 5-3 record in Big Sky play at No. 1 singles, and recorded a 6-2 record at No. 2 doubles with then-junior Megan Govi. Vorster was named to the All-Big Sky first team for her efforts after the season, while Govi was named an All-Big Sky honorable mention. Additionally, Govi made history herself in 2014, as she became the all-time singles wins leader at Portland State during the season.