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SPOKANE, Wash. — Now that's the way to get back on track.
A day after the Portland State men's tennis team's program-record five-match winning streak came to an end with a 6-1 loss to conference-rival Eastern Washington, the Vikings posted just their second-ever win over Gonzaga, beating the Bulldogs 5-2 Sunday at The Stevens Center.
The Vikings (6-2) entered the match just 1-11 all-time against the Bulldogs, who had won 10 of the teams' 12 previous meetings by 6-1 or 7-0 scores. Additionally, the Bulldogs (2-5) had beaten Eastern Washington 6-1 earlier in the 2016 dual season, and the Vikings were just coming off a 6-1 loss to the Eagles on Saturday.
"This was a great bounce back win for the team," PSU head coach
Toby Krauel said. "It was a total team effort today, and I think this win reminds this team we can compete for a Big Sky Championship, and puts us back into a positive frame of mind going into several upcoming Big Sky opponents over the next two weeks."
The win tasted especially sweet for Krauel, who graduated from the Gonzaga law school and coached Gonzaga from 19993-2000.
"Personally, I am a Gonzaga law graduate, my son plays on their baseball team and I fell in love with coaching college tennis while I was there. They also have a brand new 7-million-dollar tennis center and are a fully funded team, so to say I am thrilled with the win today is an understatement."
The Vikings got a bit of luck before the start of the match as Gonzaga was forced to forfeit the matches at line three in doubles and line six in singles. The Vikings still won three of the five contested singles matches, however, and took the doubles point as senior
Brent Wheeler and junior
Scott Goldner, who had not played together during the dual season before Sunday, dominated in a 6-2 win over Gonzaga's Hayden Smith and Vicente Varas at line one.
"Brent and Scott played phenomenal," Krauel said after the match. "Brent ripped three winner returns at 2-5 to clinch the doubles point for us."
In singles, the Vikings pulled out three close matches at line one, three and five, which gave them more than they needed to wrap up the dual.
Senior
Wil Cochrane was the first Viking to win his singles match, as he pulled out a pair of tight sets against Gonzaga's Connor Arend at line five. Cochrane beat Arend 7-5 in the first set, and then topped Arend 7-3 in a second-set tiebreaker to wrap up the match.
Cochrane has now won three straight singles matches, a streak that started with a dual-clinching comeback win in the Vikings' 4-3 road win at Seattle last weekend.
Sophomore
Nathan Boniel and junior
Ethan Lopez followed Cochrane with three-sets wins at lines one and three, respectively, with Lopez clinching the dual officially against Varas. Lopez won the first set over Varas, 7-5, and then bounced back from a tough second set with a 6-3 win in the third.
Boniel, meanwhile, lost a close first-set tiebreaker against Smith, but then dominated over the second and third sets, winning each at 6-2 to wrap up a 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2 win.
Boniel's win puts the sophomore transfer back in the win column, a day after he suffered his first loss of the season to Eastern Washington's Robert Dula. Lopez also had a five-match win streak snapped in the Vikings' loss to Gonzaga, but got back on track against Gonzaga.
That was the theme for the team as a whole Sunday, and couldn't have come at a better time as the Vikings host five Big Sky conference matches over the next three weeks, which will give them a chance to put themselves in good position to qualify for their first Big Sky tournament at the end of the year.
The Vikings' run of home matches starts next Saturday, when the Vikings host Northern Colorado at 5 p.m. (PT) at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.
Match Notes: The Vikings improve to 2-11 all-time against the Bulldogs after Sunday's win…Cochrane's win at line five gives him 20 singles wins in his career, giving him sole possession of fifth-place all-time at Portland State…Lopez's win gives him 17 in his PSU career, two behind Wheeler, who ranks sixth all-time with 19 career victories.
Portland State 5, Gonzaga 2
Feb 21, 2016 at Spokane, Wash. (The Stevens Center) | Singles competition |
| 1. BONIEL, Nathan (PSU) def. SMITH, Hayden (GON) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-2 |
| 2. O'SULLIVAN, Ruadhan (GON) def. GOLDNER, Scott (PSU) 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) |
| 3. LOPEZ, Ethan (PSU) def. VARAS, Vicente (GON) 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 |
| 4. MORENO, Emilio (GON) def. WHEELER, Brent (PSU) 6-0, 7-5 |
| 5. COCHRANE, Wil (PSU) def. AREND, Connor (GON) 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) |
| 6. RISENHOOVER, Ian (PSU) def. No player (GON), by walkover |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. GOLDNER, Scott/WHEELER, Brent (PSU) def. SMITH, Hayden/VARAS, Vicente (GON) 6-2 |
| 2. MORENO, Emilio/O'SULLIVAN, Ruadhan (GON) def. BONIEL, Nathan/COCHRANE, Wil (PSU) 6-1 |
| 3. LOPEZ, Ethan/RISENHOOVER, Ian (PSU) def. No player/No player (GON), by walkover |
| Match Notes |
| Portland State 6-2 |
| Gonzaga 2-5 |
| Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (2,4,5,3,1) |
| A-40 |
