Complete Match Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Last weekend's 2017 season opener was only a warm-up for the Portland State men's tennis team, as the Vikings' season truly gets underway this Friday and Saturday with a pair of matches that includes the team's Big Sky opener against Sacramento State.
 
The Vikings host Seattle at 12 p.m. Friday, 24 hours before the Vikings host Sacramento State in their Big Sky opener at 12 p.m. Saturday. Both matches will be played at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.
 
The Big Sky opener will be a good early season test for the young Vikings, who played with three freshmen in their singles lineup during their first two matches of the season last weekend.
 
The Hornets are young themselves with no seniors and six underclassmen on their eight-player roster, but returned five of the six singles players who led the Hornets to a 6-1 win over the Vikings in Sacramento last season.
 
Sophomore Mikus Losbergs leads the Hornets' returners at line one, where he went 14-10 as a freshman last season, including an 8-3 record in Big Sky play. One of Losbergs' three Big Sky losses last season came against Portland State's Nathan Boniel, who beat Losbergs in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.
 
Boniel was the only Viking to win a match against the Hornets last season, however, and the Vikings will need other players to step up if they hope to start their Big Sky schedule off with a win.
 
That will likely mean some of the young players stepping up, either in singles or doubles.
 
Freshman Tommy Edwards had a solid opening weekend to his Portland State career, as he challenged a veteran player in the University of Portland's Pierre Garcia in a close 6-4, 6-4 loss on Friday, before winning his first dual-season match as a Viking while only dropping two games in a 6-0, 6-2 win over Willamette's Hunter Yee.
 
Freshman Sam Larson, meanwhile, did not a drop a game while beating Willamette's Jesse Mackinney 6-0, 6-0 Saturday, and redshirt freshman Yousef Abdo beat Willamette's Derek Lunk 6-3, 6-2.
 
The Vikings played the Hornets without then-junior Scott Goldner last season, whose injury in the Vikings' match against Swarthmore on March 8 precipitated a six-match losing streak towards the end of the season that dropped the Vikings out of Big Sky tournament contention.
 
Goldner has returned from that injury and played in the Vikings' doubles lineup during last weekend's season openers. Goldner has yet to return to the Vikings' singles lineup, however, where he spent time at lines two and three last season.
 
The Vikings' match against Seattle on Friday should be a good bellwether for the Vikings' Big Sky opener a day later, too, as the Redhawks have been a good measuring stick for the Vikings in recent seasons. The Vikings lost two straight matches to the Redhawks in 2014 and 2015, but then won both matches they played against the Redhawks during the team's run to a record-setting season in 2016.
 
The Vikings pulled out a close, 4-3 win over the Redhawks in Seattle last season, as then-senior Wil Cochrane overcame a 3-0 deficit in the third set of his match at line five to clinch the dual with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over Seattle's Matt Alderson. The Vikings had an easier time against the Redhawks at home earlier in the season, as they won the doubles points and swept the top four lines in singles en route to a 5-2 win.
 
Another solid win against the Redhawks on Friday should give the Vikings confidence going into their Big Sky opener against the Hornets on Saturday, where a win would truly get the 2017 season started on a strong note for the Vikings.
 
MATCH INFO:
Jan. 27 – vs. Seattle – Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) – 12 p.m. (PT)
Jan. 28 – vs. Sacramento State – Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) – 12 p.m. (PT)
 
FOLLOW THE VIKINGS ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
Fans can follow the Portland State men's tennis team all year on Twitter at @ViksMTEN. Live updates from most home matches will be posted on that account. Fans can also find the Vikings on Instagram at @viksmtennis.
 
SCOUTING SEATTLE:
• The Seattle Redhawks (1-4) have played three matches against Big Sky schools in their five matches so far this season. The Vikings split two neutral-site matches in Eugene, Ore., against Montana State, with both matches decided by 5-2 scores, and lost to Eastern Washington at home, 6-1. The Redhawks also played two matches against the University of Washington, and lost both matches by 7-0 scores.
• The Vikings played two matches against the Redhawks last season – winning both – and will play two matches against them again this season. Besides Saturday's match, the Vikings will also play Seattle on the road at 6 p.m. on Feb. 11.
• The Redhawks return five of their regular players from last season, including four of the six who played in both matches against the Vikings. The Redhawks also added five freshmen players to bolster their roster, including Trenton Nield, who stepped right into the No. 1 position in the Redhawks' singles lineup.
• Freshman Trenton Nield, who went to the same high school as senior Ethan Lopez, has gone 1-4 at line one for the Redhawks so far this season, with his one win coming over Montana State's Rok Sitar in straight sets on Jan. 20. Nield has also played all five matches at line one in doubles, with four coming with junior Matt Alderson and one coming with senior John Stormans.
• Sophomore Jeremiah Kalmus has the best record on the team so far during the dual season, as he's gone 3-2 at line four. Kalmus has won his last three matches – all of which have come against Big Sky opponents, and all three of which have come in three sets.
• The Redhawks have gone 1-4 at all other lines in singles, except at line six, where they have yet to win a match this season. The Redhawks have also gone 1-4 at lines one and three in doubles, and 1-3 at line two in doubles.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS SEATTLE:
The Vikings lead Seattle, 7-3, in the all-time series between the two teams. The Vikings snapped a two-match losing streak to the Redhawks last season, when the Vikings swept their home-and-away series with the Redhawks. Eight of the 10 previous matches between the Vikings and Redhawks have been played on the Vikings' home court, and the Vikings hold a 6-2 record in those matches.
 
SCOUTING SACRAMENTO STATE:
• The Sacramento State Hornets (1-0) opened their season at Fresno State last Saturday, and beat the Bulldogs 4-3 in comeback fashion. The Hornets trailed 3-2 within the dual, but wins from Mikus Losbergs at No. 1 and Christopher Clayton at No. 5 swung the dual in the Hornets' favor. Clayton saved two match points in the third set of his match at line five, and then won three straight games to win his match, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
• The Hornets beat the Vikings 6-1 in Sacramento last season, a year after the Vikings broke through for their first win ever over the Hornets at home in 2015.
• The Hornets remain a young team with no seniors and six underclassmen on their eight-player roster, but still return five of the six players who played against the Vikings last season.
• Sophomore Mikus Losbergs, an All-Big Sky second-team selection in 2016, started the Hornets' match against Fresno State at line one in singles, a year after he went 14-10 at line one as a freshman, including an 8-3 record in Big Sky play. One of Losbergs' three losses in Big Sky play came against Portland State's Nathan Boniel, who beat Losbergs in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5.
• Sophomore Dom Miller moved ahead of junior Kasparas Zemaitelis to line two in the Hornets' lineup for their match against the Bulldogs, and won his debut at line two, 6-4, 6-3, over Fresno State's Mantas Bugailiskis.
• Freshman Hermont Legaspi played at line four in the Hornets' match against the Bulldogs, while Christopher Clayton and Donald Hall remained at line five and six, respectively, the same spots they played at against the Vikings last season.
• The Hornets lost all three doubles matches against the Bulldogs, a year after they won the doubles point in all but two Big Sky matches. None of the Hornets' doubles teams from 2016 played together against the Bulldogs, as three new teams made their debuts in the match.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS SACRAMENTO STATE:
The Vikings broke through for their first win against Sacramento State in 2015, when Ian Risenhoover clinched a 4-3 win in a third-set tiebreaker. That match was the last time the Hornets came to play at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash., where Saturday's match will be played. The Hornets beat the Vikings on their home court last season, however, and lead the all-time series between them and the Vikings, 15-1. Additionally, the Hornets have dominated the majority of their previous matches, as the Vikings tallied one point or less in 13 of their 16 previous matches against the Hornets.
 
LAST TIME OUT:
The Vikings split their opening weekend of the 2017 season, trading 7-0 sweeps with a 7-0 loss to cross-town rival University of Portland Friday, before beating Willamette 7-0 Saturday. The Vikings' sweep of Willamette got the Vikings back on track ahead of the team's Big Sky opener Saturday against Sacramento State. The Vikings did not lose more than three games in any set of singles or doubles against Willamette, and the team won five of the 12 singles sets by 6-0 scores. Freshman Sam Larson posted a double-bagel at line six, as he did not drop a game to Willamette's Jesse Mackinney en route to his first dual-season singles win as a Viking. Fellow freshmen Tommy Edwards and Yousef Abdo also got their first collegiate dual-season wins against the Bearcats. Edwards was the first player off the court for the Vikings after beating Willamette's Hunter Yee 6-0, 6-2 at line three. The Vikings also swept all three doubles matches, even as head coach Toby Krauel shifted the teams at lines two and three. Junior Nathan Boniel and Edwards stayed at their usual spot at line one, but the Vikings debuted two new teams at the bottom two spots. Sophomore Russell Risenhoover joined senior Scott Goldner at line two, while Larson joined senior Ethan Lopez for their first match together at line three.
 
UPCOMING:
The Vikings head down to Stockton, Calif., for a pair of non-conference matches next weekend. The Vikings play Pacific (Calif.) at 2:30 p.m. (PT) next Saturday, and then stay in Stockton for a neutral-site match against Hawaii at 1 p.m. (PT) Sunday.
 
NATHAN BONIEL, REIGNING BIG SKY MVP:
Junior Nathan Boniel has a tough act to follow after he completed the best individual season in program history in 2016, which culminated in him being named the Vikings' first Big Sky MVP in program history. Boniel broke five single-season school records while going 19-1 in singles in 2016, including the records for most wins in a season (19), most Big Sky wins in a season (9) and highest overall singles win percentage (.950). Boniel's only loss during the 2016 spring season came in three sets in a match where he led in the third set. Boniel has been off to a good start so far in defense of his MVP honors, as he won the Bulldog Classic Single A title during the fall, and was a finalist in the Dar Walters Fall Classic Singles A flight. Additionally, Boniel competed at the prestigious Oracle ITA Masters, where he upset a Pac-12 mixed doubles team in Nick Crystal of USC and Denise Starr of Cal, along with Idaho's Marianna Petrei. Both Crystal and Starr entered the match ranked in the top 10 nationally in men's and women's doubles, while Starr was the 2016 NCAA runner-up in women's doubles.
 
BONIEL AND LOPEZ BATTLING AT THE TOP OF THE RECORD BOOKS:
A subtext to the Vikings' 2017 season will be the battle at the top of the record book between junior Nathan Boniel and senior Ethan Lopez. Both have a chance to break the career record for singles wins at Portland State, which currently stands at 28, shared between Chris Rice (2009-11) and Alex VanDerschelden (2008-11). Lopez currently ranks seventh all-time with 22 career singles wins, while Boniel ranks two win behind him in a tie for eighth with 20 career wins. The two will also battle for the career record in Big Sky singles wins, as they both rank in the top 10 coming into the season. Ian Risenhoover holds the record with 15 career Big Sky singles wins, while Lopez and Boniel rank third and tied for sixth with 11 and nine career conference wins, respectively. Boniel and Lopez also stand 1-2 in overall singles win percentage, with Boniel way out in front with a career win percentage of .909 (20-2), while Lopez holds a career win percentage of .537 (22-19).
 
Both Boniel and Lopez are also chasing career records in their own categories. Boniel ranks second in career wins at No. 1 singles with 20 – eight behind Chris Rice's record of 28. Lopez, meanwhile, ranks second in career wins at No. 2 singles with 13 – 10 behind Alex VanDerschelden's record of 23. Boniel and Lopez also currently hold the records for win percentage at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively, with Boniel holding a .909 win percentage at No. 1, while Lopez holds a .520 win percentage at No. 2.
 
NEWCOMERS:
The Vikings added three true freshmen during the offseason in Tommy Edwards, Sam Larson and Majeed Bukhari, while redshirt freshman Yousef Abdo joins the fold after sitting out last season. Edwards had the best fall season of any of the four freshmen, as he made the championship match of the singles B draw at the Bulldog Classic, where he also won the consolation doubles title along with teammate Nathan Boniel. Edwards also competed in the junior draw at the Oracle ITA Masters, not representing Portland State, and advanced into the second round of the prestigious tournament. Bukhari, meanwhile, made the consolation finals of the singles B draw at the Bulldog Classic, and went 5-5 overall in singles during the fall.
 
2016 SEASON RECAP:
The Vikings completed the best season in program history last year, as the team set program records for overall wins (12), overall win percentage (.571) and Big Sky wins (5). The Vikings also challenged for a spot in the Big Sky tournament during the season, which would have been their first time ever making the Big Sky tournament. The Vikings stood 5-2 in Big Sky matches at one point, but an untimely injury to the Vikings' No. 2 singles player, Scott Goldner, precipitated a six-match losing streak that dropped the Vikings out of tournament contention. The Vikings still managed to set more individual records during the season, however, as departed senior Ian Risenhoover set the career record for career doubles wins at 39, while fellow departed senior Brent Wheeler finished second behind him with 38. Wheeler also set the record for most career wins by a doubles team with 22 with Ethan Lopez, and tied the record for most individual career wins at No. 1 doubles with 26. Risenhoover, meanwhile, left the program as the career leader in wins at No. 2 doubles, wins at No. 6 singles, Big Sky singles wins and Big Sky doubles wins. The big record-setter in 2016, however, was Nathan Boniel, who set five single-season records while becoming the program's first-ever Big Sky MVP at the end of the season. Boniel set the records for overall singles wins (19), overall singles win percentage (.950), Big Sky singles wins (9), wins at No. 1 singles (19) and win percentage at No. 1 singles (.950).