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BOISE, Idaho — The Portland State women's tennis team put up a strong showing against Boise State Monday, but ultimately fell to the Broncos 5-2 at the Boas Indoor Tennis Center.
 
The 5-2 margin represents the Vikings' best showing against the Broncos (6-9) in their all-time series against them, and the Vikings (7-7) did it without two of their most successful players in their singles lineup in senior Megan Govi and sophomore Sabina-Elena Preda.
 
"Boise State's a tough team. We were missing two players in the heart of our lineup, but the girls that we had in there stepped up and competed," head coach Jay Sterling said.
 
Despite the Vikings' efforts, the Broncos clinched the dual early Monday, as they wrapped up the doubles point with wins at lines two and three, and then won the first three completed singles matches.
 
The Vikings came back to challenge in the remaining singles matches, however, starting with sophomore Tracy Dong's win at line three. Dong beat Boise State's Bobbi Oshiro 6-3, 6-4 at line three, giving Dong her sixth straight singles win, as well as her 15th win in her past 17 singles matches.
 
Dong's win also extends her single-season record for wins at line three to 10 matches, and keeps her above the current single-season record for win percentage. Dong has now gone 12-2 during the dual season for the Vikings, giving her a win percentage of .857, almost a hundred percentage points higher than the current record of .765, set by Yuki Sugiyama (13-4) in 2011.
 
Sophomore Kelsey Frey, meanwhile, nearly followed Dong with a win at line five, as she came back from a set down to take Boise State's Milena Toseva into a match tiebreaker. Frey took a 7-3 lead in the tiebreaker as well, but Toseva rallied to win the final seven points and steal the match, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7).
 
Toseva's rally prevented Frey from completing her comeback, but teammate Dané Vorster exacted some revenge for Frey with her own comeback at line one. Vorster lost the first set of her match to Boise State's Megan LaLone in a tiebreaker, but then came back with a dominant, 6-2 win in the second set. Vorster and LaLone then went into their own match tiebreaker, which Vorster pulled out, 10-5, giving her the win at the top of the lineup.
 
Vorster's win represents a breakthrough for the 2014 All-Big Sky first-team selection, as she had lost her last six matches against Division I opponents. Frey was also going for her first win in her last six matches, but came up just short of getting over the hump.
 
"It's imperative that we get Dané and Kelsey going. We're going to need them down the stretch. They're important parts of this team," Sterling said.
 
The Vikings will now take close to two weeks off from competition, before returning to the court for a home match against Eastern Washington on April 4 that will kick off the home stretch of the Vikings' season. The Vikings will host the Eagles at 2:30 p.m. (PT) at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.

Boise State 5, Portland State 2
Mar 23, 2015 at Boise, Idaho (Boas Indoor Tennis Center) 

Singles competition

1. VORSTER, Dane (PSU) def. Megan LaLone (BSU) 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 1-0 (10-5)

2. Teal Vosburgh (BSU) def. PERI, Siena (PSU) 6-0, 6-2

3. DONG, Tracy (PSU) def. Bobbi Oshiro (BSU) 6-3, 6-4

4. Ari Paules Aldrey (BSU) def. MCDONALD, Alexa (PSU) 6-2, 6-2

5. Milena Toseva (BSU) def. FREY, Kelsey (PSU) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7)

6. Sammie Watson (BSU) def. TERAKAWA, Ayaka (PSU) 6-2, 6-2

 

Doubles competition

1. Bobbi Oshiro/Sammie Watson (BSU) vs. VORSTER, Dane/PERI, Siena (PSU) 4-4, unfinished

2. Megan LaLone/Ari Paules Aldrey (BSU) def. TERAKAWA, Ayaka/MCDONALD, Alexa (PSU) 6-1

3. Teal Vosburgh/Milena Toseva (BSU) def. DONG, Tracy/PREDA, Sabina-Elena (PSU) 6-3

 

Match Notes

Portland State 7-7

Boise State 6-9

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