Complete match notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's tennis team (7-7, 3-4 Big Sky) returns home for a must-win match against Eastern Washington Saturday at 1 p.m. (PT) at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.
 
With four conference matches remaining, the Vikings currently sit outside of the potential six-team Big Sky tournament field at 3-4 in Big Sky play. North Dakota currently ranks as the sixth team in the conference at 4-5 in Big Sky play, while Weber State ranks fifth at 2-2. The Vikings do not hold the tiebreaker against either team, meaning they will need to jump one team or the other in order to qualify for its second straight conference tournament.
 
The Eagles, meanwhile, represent one of two teams remaining on the Vikings' Big Sky schedule that currently rank below PSU in the conference standings. Besides the Eagles, the Vikings will also play Southern Utah on the road on April 10.
 
SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON:
The Eastern Washington Eagles (5-13, 2-6 Big Sky) have been an improved team in 2015, as their two Big Sky wins this season already surpass their 2014 win total with three matches still to play. The Eagles have still been prone to inconsistency, however, including recently, as the Eagles followed up a two-match winning streak over Seattle and Southern Utah with a two-match losing streak to Northern Arizona and UNLV. The Eagles' up-and-down season can be somewhat attributed to their youthful roster, as the Eagles' top six players this season are all freshmen and sophomores. Individually, freshman Janaya Smith has led the Eagles this season, as she has a 10-8 record at line one in singles, including a 4-4 record in Big Sky play. Sophomore Dani Young also has a 4-4 Big Sky record while playing predominately at line four, while fellow sophomores Katrina Domingo and Carolina Lopez each have 3-4 records in conference play. Meanwhile, in doubles, Smith and Domingo have led the Eagles with a 5-7 record at line one this season, including a 3-5 mark in Big Sky play. Young and sophomore Erin Blessing, meanwhile, have a 6-4 record at line two, while Lopez and freshman Rachel Swindell have a 3-1 record in Big Sky play at line three.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS EASTERN WASHINGTON:
The Vikings are just 5-15 all-time against Eastern Washington, but have won three of the last four matches in the all-time series between the two teams. All four of the team's recent matches have been close, however, as all four have been decided by 4-3 or 5-2 scores.
 
SHORT-HANDED VIKINGS FIGHT, BUT FALL TO BOISE STATE:
A short-handed Vikings team put up the team's best fight to date against Boise State, losing 5-2 to the Broncos on March 23. The Vikings had never won more than one point off the Broncos, but won two singles matches against the Broncos even without senior Megan Govi and sophomore Sabina-Elena Preda in their lineup. Junior Dané Vorster and sophomore Tracy Dong won their matches at lines one and three, respectively, while sophomore Kelsey Frey lost her match at line five in a match tiebreaker.
 
LOOKING AHEAD:
The Vikings head back out on the road for three matches next weekend. The Vikings play at Southern Utah on April 10, then head to Flagstaff, Ariz., for two more matches over the next two days. The Vikings play a neutral-site match against Utah State on April 11, and then play at Northern Arizona on April 12.
 
CLOSE MATCHES:
The Vikings' 4-3 loss to North Dakota on March 14 marked the Vikings' fourth straight Big Sky match 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 and 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 four 5-2 matches this season, meaning 10 of the team's 14 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 takes a six-match winning streak into the Vikings' match against the Eagles, while Peri has won five of her last six matches, and Govi has won eight of her last 10. Dong leads the team with a 12-2 record overall during the dual season, while Govi ranks second on the team at 8-3 overall. Dong's 12-2 record gives her a winning percentage of .857, well ahead of the current single-season record for win percentage at Portland State, which Yuki Sugiyama set at .765 (13-4) in 2011.
 
DONG TEARING THROUGH THE PSU RECORD BOOK:
Sophomore Tracy Dong extended her new single-season school record for wins at line three with her win in the team's match against Boise State, continuing her assault on the PSU record book all season. Dong now has 10 wins at line three this season, two more than the old record of eight, set by Dong's teammate, Kelsey Frey, in 2013. Dong also has 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. Additionally, Dong ranks five wins off Govi's overall record of 17 wins in 2013 with five matches remaining in the regular season. Dong would also break the record for single-season win percentage if the season ended today, as her 12-2 record in duals gives her a win percentage of .857, 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.
 
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. The Vikings will face Northern Arizona and Southern Utah next weekend.
 
UP AND DOWN SEASON IN DOUBLES:
The Vikings have been up and down all season in doubles, and enter the weekend 5-9 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 three straight doubles-point losses, however, and will take that three-match losing streak into their match against Eastern Washington this weekend. The nine doubles-point losses are already four 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.
 
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.