RESULTS

WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The Sweet Onions weren't the only things sweet in Walla Walla Saturday, as the Portland State women's tennis team played sweetly on the first day of the WC Fall Invite, hosted by Whitman College.
 
The Vikings advanced two teams to the semifinals of the doubles draw Saturday, and then added four semifinalists between the Blue and Yellow Singles Flights. Brianna Thompson, Siena Peri, Eszter Zador and Alli Valk all advanced to the semifinals in both singles and doubles Saturday, with Thompson, Peri and Zador giving the Vikings three of the four semifinalists in the Blue Singles Flight.
 
The Vikings kicked off their dominant showing Saturday with a strong performance in doubles, where Thompson and Peri joined Zador and Valk in advancing to the semifinals. Both Viking teams had byes into the quarterfinals of the doubles draw, and then won in dominant fashion to make it to the semifinals.
 
Thompson and Peri – the top-seeded team in the doubles draw – beat Stephanie Buckingham and Begona Andres of Lewis-Clark State 8-2 to advance on the top half of the bracket. Zador and Valk – the third-seeded team in the draw – only dropped one game, meanwhile,  while beating Seattle's Kali McCollister and Audrey Scott 8-1 in the bottom half of the bracket.
 
Thompson and Peri will now play the fourth-seeded team in Whitman's Hanna Greenberg and Andrea Gu in the semifinals at 9 a.m. tomorrow, the same time Zador and Valk will face off against the second-seeded team in Seattle's Kelli Woodman and Kyra Jung. Should both Viking teams win their semifinals, they'll play an all-PSU doubles final at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
 
Those four were dominant again in singles, starting with Thompson, who advanced to the semifinals as the top seed in the Blue Singles Flight with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Whitman's Andrea Gu.
 
Zador, the second seed in the Blue Singles Flight, was even more dominant in her singles match, however, as she advanced to the semifinals while only dropping one game in a 6-1, 6-0 win over Whitman's Hanna Greenberg.
 
Peri, the fourth seed in the Blue Singles Flight, had a more difficult path to the semifinals, as she lost the opening set of her quarterfinal match against Seattle's Krya Jung, 6-4. Peri only dropped two games after that, however, as she came back to beat Jung 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.
 
Peri and Zador will face off against each other in the semifinals Sunday, while Thompson faces off against third-seeded Hannah Gianan of Seattle.
 
Valk, meanwhile, advanced to the semifinals as the top seed in the Yellow Singles Flight, with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Laura Diaz of Lewis-Clark State. Valk will face off against Seattle's Audrey Scott – the third seed in the Yellow Singles Flight – in the semifinals Sunday.
 
Ashley Knecht and Gerda Upeniece joined Valk in the Yellow Singles Flight Saturday, but neither advanced past the quarterfinals.
 
Knecht won her first match in the Yellow Singles Flight while putting together her most complete performance to date as a Viking with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Whitman's Lorin DeMuth. Knecht then faced off against second-seeded Kali McCollister of Seattle in the quarterfinals, but lost 6-1, 6-0.
 
Upeniece lost her first-round match in the Yellow Singles Flight, but rebounded to win her first match on the consolation side of the bracket. Upeniece beat Jae Kelly of Lewis-Clark State 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of the consolation draw, which will be played Sunday.
 
Knecht and Upeniece also played together in doubles, but lost in the first round, 8-4, to Lewis-Clark State's Laura Rosselli and Jae Kelly. They'll play a bonus match with each other tomorrow against Hannah and Sophie Uhlenkott of Lewis-Clark State.