Complete match notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's tennis team (9-9, 5-5 Big Sky) can clinch a spot in the Big Sky tournament if the Vikings beat Idaho Saturday in the team's regular-season finale. The Vikings host the Vandals at 1 p.m. (PT) at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.
 
The Vikings can also qualify for the tournament if Montana State loses any of its three remaining matches, but the team would prefer to qualify on a win.
 
If the Vikings do qualify for the tournament, they are locked into the sixth seed, which means they'll meet the No. 3 seed in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on April 24. The Vikings could still face a number of teams in the quarterfinals, as Northern Arizona, Montana or Weber State all remain alive for the third seed.
 
Saturday's match against Idaho will also be senior day for the Vikings' Megan Govi and Alexa McDonald. Govi and McDonald will leave the Portland State women's tennis team as two of the program's all-time great players. Govi and McDonald rank first and second in career singles wins at Portland State, while Govi also holds the all-time lead in career doubles wins.
 
SCOUTING IDAHO:
The Idaho Vandals (12-7, 9-1 Big Sky) have been one of the best teams in the Big Sky in their first season competing in the conference. The Vandals' only loss in conference play came to the undefeated Hornets, who came back to beat the Vandals 4-3 after losing the doubles point. Otherwise, the Vandals have swept the rest of their matches in convincing fashion, as they've won the doubles point in every Big Sky match, and have gone 45-9 in singles in their nine other Big Sky matches. Sophomore Galina Bykova has led the Vandals this season, as she's quickly become one of the best individual players in the Big Sky in her first year within the conference. Bykova, the ninth-ranked singles player in the ITA mountain region, has a 14-3 record at line one during the dual season, which includes a perfect, 10-0 record against Big Sky opponents. Bykova was also named the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2014, when she helped lead the Vandals to their first-ever WAC championship, and an appearance in the NCAA tournament at 19-6 overall. Besides Bykova, senior Emmie Marx has a 9-1 record in Big Sky play this season while playing predominately at lines two or three. Junior Belen Barcenilla also has an 8-1 record against Big Sky opponents, while senior Sophie Vickers and freshman Lucia Badillos have each gone 7-3 in Big Sky play this season. Meanwhile, the Vandals have also been extremely dominant in doubles during the Big Sky schedule, as they are 23-3 combined in doubles match against conference opponents. Bykova and Marx have a 7-1 record together against Big Sky opponents while playing at line one, while Barcenilla and Vickers also stand 7-1 in Big Sky play while playing at line two. Additionally, Badillos and junior Rita Bermudez have a 5-1 record together in Big Sky matches while playing at line three.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS IDAHO:
The Vikings trail 1-9 in their all-time series versus Idaho. The Vikings won their last match against the Vandals, however, as they broke through for a 5-2 win at home in 2013.
 
VIKINGS BEAT SOUTHERN UTAH, LOSE TO UTAH STATE, NORTHERN ARIZONA:
The Vikings went 1-2 last weekend, beating Southern Utah 4-3 last Friday, before losing 5-1 to Utah State and 7-0 to Northern Arizona last Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The Vikings beat the Thunderbirds on Friday thanks to a decisive doubles point and wins from Tracy Dong, Sabina-Elena Preda and Alexa McDonald in singles. Dong's win in singles gave the sophomore eight Big Sky wins this season, breaking the record Megan Govi set in 2013. Dong also gave the Vikings their lone point in the match against Utah State, extending her record for wins at line three to 13 matches.
 
LOOKING AHEAD:
If things go their way this weekend, the Vikings will compete at the Big Sky Championships in Gold River, Calif., next weekend. The bottom four seeds in the tournament will play in the quarterfinals on April 24, while the winners of the quarterfinals will then meet the top two seeds in the semifinals on April 25. The winners of the semifinals will meet in the championship match on April 26.
 
CLOSE MATCHES:
The Vikings' 4-3 win over Southern Utah last Friday was their fifth 4-3 match in Big Sky play last season. The Vikings have gone 3-2 in those 4-3 matches, beating Southern Utah, Northern Colorado and Idaho State, 4-3, but losing to North Dakota and Weber State by the same score. The Vikings also beat Seattle and Lewis-Clark State, 4-3, during their non-conference schedule, raising their overall record in 4-3 matches this season to 5-2. Additionally, the Vikings have played four 5-2 matches this season, meaning 11 of the Vikings' 18 matches this season have been decided by 4-3 or 5-2 scores.
 
A SEASON FOR THE AGES:
Sophomore Tracy Dong has put together one of the best individual seasons in program history this year, as she has been tearing through the records books all year. Dong already holds the single-season records for Big Sky wins (8) and wins at line three (13), and remains on pace to break the single-season record for win percentage. Dong's 15-3 record during the dual season currently gives her a win percentage of .833, putting her well ahead of the current single-season record of .765, set by Yuki Sugiyama with a 13-4 record in 2011. Dong will have a chance to tie the single-season record for overall singles wins if the Vikings make the Big Sky tournament, as her 15 wins this season rank two short of Megan Govi's record of 17 wins in 2013. Dong could get within one win of Govi with a win in the Vikings' match against Idaho, but would need to also pick up a win in a potential conference tournament match in order to tie the record.
 
FANTASTIC FRESHMAN:
Freshman Siena Peri has also been putting together one of the all-time best seasons by a freshman this season, as she's gone 8-8 at line two. Peri's eight wins rank as the second-best single-season total at line two, while Peri will tie the record of nine, set by Denise Cockrell in 2003, with her next win. Peri's .500 win percentage at line two also ranks second to Cockrell's record of .643 from 2003. Peri has been especially strong in Big Sky matches, as she's 6-4 against conference opponents, and has won five of her last seven conference matches. Peri's six Big Sky wins rank tied for the third-best single-season total in program history.
 
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 have 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 29 wins in her career, two wins 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 15 career singles wins, and moved into a tie for fourth all-time in career doubles wins last weekend. Frey now has 20 career doubles wins, and will move into a tie for third all-time with two more wins.
 
CHALLENGING SCHEDULE:
The Vikings set up a challenging schedule for themselves in 2015, as the team began the year searching for a return trip to the Big Sky tournament. The Vikings faced seven things they have never done before as a program at the start of the year, and have more or less handled those challenges well while putting themselves on the verge of a berth into the Big Sky tournament. 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. The Vikings went 3-4 in facing those challenges this season, as they beat Montana State at home and Northern Colorado and Southern Utah on the road, but lost to Montana and Sacramento State at home, as well as Weber State and Northern Arizona on the road.
 
UP AND DOWN SEASON IN DOUBLES:
The Vikings have been up and down all season in doubles, and enter the weekend 7-11 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, and then had a two-match win streak followed by a two-match losing streak that they'll take into their match against Idaho. The 11 doubles-point losses are six 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 this season after losing the doubles point.
 
DEPTH OF RETURNERS:
The Vikings returned 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.