Complete match notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's tennis team (7-6) steps out of conference play for a road match at Boise State Monday at the Appleton Tennis Center at 10 a.m. (MT).
 
This will be the third straight season the Vikings have made a trip to Boise. The Vikings played Boise State and The College of Idaho in Boise last season, and faced the Broncos again in Boise in 2013, along with Lewis-Clark State.
 
SCOUTING BOISE STATE:
The Boise State Broncos (5-9) opened their 2015 dual season 4-1, but have since lost eight of their last nine matches. The Broncos' schedule has not helped them over their recent struggles, however, as seven of the team's nine losses have come against ranked teams. The Broncos have had more success against the Big Sky schools on their schedule this season, as they are 3-0 already against teams from the Big Sky Conference, having beaten Eastern Washington (6-1), Weber State (5-2) and Idaho State (7-0).  The Broncos also share three other common opponents with the Vikings, as they beat Lewis-Clark State and Seattle, but lost to a ranked Washington State team, just as the Vikings did earlier this season. Individually, the Broncos return six players from the team's 2014 team that went 13-10 overall and 4-3 in the Mountain West Conference. Junior Teal Vosburgh returns as the 16th-ranked singles player in the ITA Mountain Region, and has alternated between playing at line one and line two for the Broncos this season. The Broncos have shuffled around their singles lineup in general this season, as no one player has held down a spot for the entire season. Senior Sammie Watson leads the Broncos with a 7-2 record overall during the dual season, and had a five-match win streak snapped in the team's last match, a 7-0 loss to then-No. 49 Washington. Besides Watson, junior Bobbi Oshiro ranks second on the team with a 7-5 record during the dual season, and has appeared anywhere from line two to line six in the Broncos' lineup this season. Junior Megan LaLone also has a 6-6 record for the Broncos, and has played at every spot in the Broncos' lineup except line six. Meanwhile, the Broncos have been a strong doubles team this season, as they are 8-6 in doubles so far. Oshiro and Watson have typically played at line one in doubles for the Broncos, and currently rank as the eighth-best doubles team in the ITA Mountain Region. Besides them, LaLone and freshman Arianna Paules Aldrey have played at line two for the Broncos, while Vosburgh and sophomore Milena Toseva have played at line three. The Broncos' bottom two doubles teams have been a particular strength for the team, as the Broncos have a 7-4 record at line two this season, and a 9-2 record at line three. 
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS BOISE STATE:
The Vikings are 0-5 all-time against Boise State, and have never won more than a point off the Broncos in any of their previous duals against them. Additionally, four of the Vikings' five losses to the Broncos have come in Boise.
 
LIVE STATS:
Boise State will provide live stats for its match against the Vikings here. The link can also be accessed via the women's tennis schedule page on GoViks.com.
 
VIKINGS FALL IN HEATBREAKER TO NORTH DAKOTA:
A week after their epic comeback for a 4-3 win over Northern Colorado, the Vikings found themselves on the other side of the coin last weekend, as they fell 4-3 on the road to North Dakota after losing three three-set singles matches. The match still featured some bright spots for the Vikings, however, as sophomore Tracy Dong broke the single-season record for wins at line three with her win over UND's Sophie Allen-Fisher. Freshman Siena Peri also won her fifth straight match at line two, beating UND's Lacey Sprinkel 7-5, 6-2.
 
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Vikings return home and to Big Sky play next weekend, as they host Eastern Washington at 2:30 p.m. (PT) on April 4 at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.
 
CLOSE MATCHES:
The Vikings' 4-3 loss to North Dakota last Saturday marked the fourth straight match for the Vikings that was decided by a 4-3 score. The Vikings beat Idaho State and Northern Colorado 4-3 on Feb. 28 and March 7, respectively, but lost by the same score to North Dakota last weekend, and to Weber State on March 1. Those four matches represent more than half of the Vikings' seven Big Sky matches this season, while the Vikings also beat Seattle and Lewis-Clark State, 4-3, during their non-conference schedule. Additionally, the Vikings have played three 5-2 matches this season, meaning nine of the team's 13 dual matches have been decided by 4-3 or 5-2 scores.
 
THREE AMIGOS:
The Vikings' trio of senior Megan Govi, sophomore Tracy Dong and freshman Siena Peri have all been reliable winners of late for the Vikings. Dong and Peri each take five-match win streaks into the team's matches this weekend, while Govi has won eight of her last 10 matches. Govi has an 8-3 record overall this dual season for the Vikings, but that still ranks second on the team to Dong, who has an 11-2 record in duals. Dong's 11-2 record gives her a winning percentage of .846, well ahead of the current single-season record for win percentage at Portland State, which Yuki Sugiyama set at .765 (13-4) in 2011. Peri also ranks just off the single-season record for win percentage at line two. Peri's current win percentage of .636 (7-4) ranks just behind Denise Cockrell's school record of .643 (9-5), set in 2003.
 
DONG TEARING THROUGH THE PSU RECORD BOOK:
Sophomore Tracy Dong broke the single-season school record for wins at line three with her win over North Dakota's Sophie Allen-Fish last Saturday, continuing her assault on the PSU record book all season. Dong now has nine wins at line three this season, breaking the old record of eight, set by Dong's teammate, Kelsey Frey, in 2013. Dong's win Saturday also gave her six Big Sky wins this season, putting her one behind Megan Govi's school record of seven in 2013, with four Big Sky matches remaining. Dong also ranks six wins off Govi's overall record of 17 wins in 2013, with seven matches remaining in the regular season. Additionally, Dong would have the record for single-season win percentage if the season ended today, as her 11-2 record in duals gives her a win percentage of .846, well ahead of the current single-season record of .765, set by Yuki Sugiyama with a 13-4 record in 2011.
 
MEGAN GOVI BECOMES ALL-TIME LEADER IN SINGLES AND DOUBLES WINS:
Senior Megan Govi became the all-time leader in doubles wins in the Vikings' match against Weber State on March 1, and now has 32 doubles wins in her Portland State career, two more than Anya Dalkin, who set the record with 30 wins from 2008-11. The wins-lead in doubles gives Govi the career lead in both singles and doubles wins at Portland State, as Govi also set the singles record last season. Govi has 42 singles wins in her Portland State career going into the weekend, 14 more than any other player in program history.
 
HISTORY MAKERS:
Besides Megan Govi, several other Vikings had already made history this season, including senior Alexa McDonald, who moved into sole possession of second place in career singles wins at Portland State with her dual-clinching win over Northern Colorado on March 7. McDonald now has 28 wins in her career, one win ahead of Leinani McAneney (1996-98) and Marti Pellicano (2010-13) at 27. Sophomore Kelsey Frey has also moved up the career ranks this season, as she ranks tied for 11th all-time with 14 career singles wins, and moved into a tie for sixth all-time in career doubles wins with her win with Govi against Colorado College on March 6. Frey now has 19 career doubles wins, and will move into a tie for fourth all-time with one more win.
 
UP AND DOWN SEASON IN DOUBLES:
The Vikings have been up and down all season in doubles, and enter the weekend 5-8 in doubles points this season. The Vikings started the season with two straight doubles-point losses, but then won the doubles point in their next two matches. The Vikings followed that with three straight doubles-point losses, before bouncing back with wins in three of their next four matches. The Vikings followed that with two straight doubles-point losses, however, and will take that two-match losing streak into their matches this weekend. The eight doubles-point losses are already three more than the Vikings' total losses in 2014, when the Vikings went 10-5 in doubles. The team's inconsistency in doubles has not been a huge drain on the Vikings so far, though, as the Vikings have come back to win the dual three times already this season after losing the doubles point, including their dramatic win over Northern Colorado last weekend.
 
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 2-3 in facing those challenges this season, as they beat Montana State at home and Northern Colorado on the road, but lost to Montana and Sacramento State at home, as well as Weber State on the road.
 
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.