Complete Match Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State men's tennis team hits the road for the first time this season, as the Vikings head south for a pair of matches in Stockton, Calif., this weekend. The Vikings will open the weekend against host Pacific (Calif.) Saturday, and then play Hawaii in a neutral-site match on Pacific's home court on Sunday.
 
The road trip gives the Vikings a chance to regroup after a pair of tough matches last weekend that saw the Vikings drop a heartbreaker to Seattle, 4-3, as well their Big Sky opener against Sacramento State, 6-1.
 
Pacific will be another tough non-conference challenge for the Vikings, as the Tigers have been a consistent winner over the past few seasons in the West Coast Conference. The Tigers made the semifinals or better at the WCC tournament from 2013-15, and made the quarterfinals last season. Additionally, the Tigers finished last season ranked 70th nationally in the ITA rankings.
 
The Tigers lost West Coast Conference Player of the Year Sam Verbeek to graduation, however, and only return four of their eight letterwinners off last year's team. Senior Miguel Diaz stands as the Tigers' top returner, as he was the only one of the team's four returners to play in all nine WCC matches last season, and started this season ranked 18th in singles in the ITA Northwest region.
 
The Tigers have already played a number of close matches this season, as they won a pair of 4-3 matches over UC Davis in a doubleheader on Jan. 14, but also lost a 4-3 match to Wichita State at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend last weekend.
 
The Vikings will catch the Tigers on the backend of another doubleheader Saturday, as the Tigers will play Hawaii at 10 a.m., before they face the Vikings at 2:30 p.m.
 
The Vikings will play Hawaii at 1 p.m. Sunday, which will be just the second match outside of the state of Hawaii for the Rainbow Warriors following their match Saturday against Pacific.
 
The Rainbow Warriors have had a tough start to their 2017 season while going 0-3 behind losses to Ole Miss, San Diego State and UC Santa Barbara.
 
Hawaii went 1-14 overall last season, but the team's one win came over Big Sky power Sacramento State. The Rainbow Warriors beat the Hornets 4-3 last season, with Hawaii sweeping the matches at the top four singles lines.
 
Felix Albert beat Sacramento State's Mikus Losbergs in three sets at line one in that match, and has returned at line one so far this season for the Rainbow Wahine. That should set up for an interesting matchup against Portland State No. 1 Nathan Boniel, who lost to Losbergs in straight sets last Saturday, after beating Losbergs in their first match against each other last season.
 
Igor Kolaric is also a returner for the Rainbow Warriors at line two, where he could meet Viking freshman Tommy Edwards, who stands as the hottest player for the Vikings right now. Edwards has won his last three matches in singles, all in straight sets, including a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sacramento State's Dom Miller in his debut at line two last Saturday.
 
Edwards has yet to play a match outside of the Portland area in his career, however, but that will end this weekend, and hopefully with just as much success for Edwards and the Vikings as if they were playing at home.
 
MATCH INFO:
Feb. 4 – at Pacific (Calif.) – Stockton, Calif. (Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center) – 2:30 p.m. (PT)
Feb. 5 – vs. Hawaii – Stockton, Calif. (Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center) – 1 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 PACIFIC (CALIF.):
• The Pacific (Calif.) Tigers (2-2) finished the 2016 season ranked 70th nationally in the ITA rankings, but lost West Coast Conference Player of the Year Sam Verbeek off last year's team. Senior Miguel Diaz returns as the 18th-ranked singles player in the ITA Northwest region, however.
• The Tigers opened their season by sweeping a doubleheader against UC Davis on Jan. 14, but then lost back-to-back matches against No. 12 TCU and Wichita State at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend. The Tigers won both matches over UC Davis by 4-3 scores, before losing 4-0 to No. 12 TCU and 4-3 to Wichita State.
• The Tigers lost in the quarterfinals of the West Coast Conference tournament last season, falling 4-2 to the University of Portland. It was the first time in the past four seasons that the Tigers failed to qualify for the conference semifinals.
• The Tigers went 14-13 overall and 6-3 in the West Coast Conference last season, but only return four of their eight letterwinners from a season ago. Of the returners Miguel Diaz saw the most time last season while going 12-12 overall and 5-4 in WCC play in singles. Bernardo Oliveira, Kumara Adavelly and Lance Ngo also saw time in the Tigers' singles lineup, but only Oliveira played more than two WCC matches for the Tigers.
• WCC coaches picked the Tigers to finish fifth out of 10 teams in the conference this season, while Miguel Diaz was selected to the preseason All-WCC team.
• The Tigers' match against the Vikings will be the second of a doubleheader for them on Saturday. The Tigers play Hawaii at 10 a.m. before they face the Vikings at 2:30 p.m.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS PACIFIC (CALIF.):
Saturday's match will be the first-ever between the Vikings and Tigers.
 
SCOUTING HAWAII:
• The Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (0-3) have opened their 2017 dual season with three straight losses to Ole Miss (7-0), San Diego State (5-2) and UC Santa Barbara (7-0).
• The Rainbow Warriors will play Pacific (Calif.) in Stockton a day before they play the Vikings. The match against Pacific will be the Rainbow Warriors' first dual-season match outside of the state of Hawaii this season, and will mark the team's first match since Jan. 15.
• The Rainbow Warriors went 1-14 overall last season, but their one win came over Big Sky power Sacramento State, 4-3, at the start of the season. The Rainbow Warriors lost all three doubles matches against the Hornets, but swept the matches at the top four singles lines to take the dual. Hawaii returns three of the four players who won matches against the Hornets in 2016, including No. 1 player Felix Albert, who beat Sacramento State's Mikus Losbergs 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5).
• Felix Albert has played the first three matches for the Rainbow Warriors at line one this season, and he and Igor Kolaric, who's played at line two, have the team's only two singles wins this season. Both picked up their wins in the Rainbow Warriors' 5-2 loss to San Diego State, and both wins came in three sets. Kolaric and Marcel Chan also picked up the Rainbow Warriors' lone doubles win so far this season in that match.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS HAWAII:
Sunday's match will be the first-ever between the Vikings and Hawaii.
 
LAST TIME OUT:
The Vikings had a tough-luck weekend against Seattle and Sacramento State last week, as they dropped a heartbreaking, 4-3 match to Seattle on Friday, before losing 6-1 to Sacramento State on Saturday. The Vikings led their dual against Seattle, 3-1, but lost the final three singles matches to lose the dual, 4-3. The Vikings got off to a good start against the Redhawks behind a doubles sweep, and then got wins from freshman Tommy Edwards at line three and junior Nathan Boniel at line one in singles. The Vikings also had match points at line two, but the Redhawks came back to win that match in three sets, and then sealed their win with a win at line six. The Hornets did not allow the Vikings to get that close in their match, as they beat the Vikings at every line except line two in singles. Edwards won there for the Vikings, as he beat Sacramento State's Dom Miller, 6-4, 6-4 in his debut match at line two.
 
UPCOMING:
The Vikings remain on the road next week, as they head north for a match at Seattle University at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11. The match will be the Vikings' second of the season against the Redhawks, following last Friday's match, which Seattle won 4-3.
 
FRESHMAN PHENOM:
Freshman Tommy Edwards has been off to a great start in his first year as a Viking. During the fall, Edwards was a finalist in the singles B flight at the Bulldog Classic, where he also won the consolation doubles title with partner Nathan Boniel. Now in the spring, Edwards leads the team with three singles wins, all of which have come in straight sets, and has gone 2-2 with Boniel at line one in doubles. Edwards' success has seen him move up to No. 2 in the Vikings' singles lineup already, where he won his debut match against Sacramento State's Dom Miller, 6-4, 6-4, last Saturday.
 
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 one spot below at eighth with 21 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 .875 (21-3), while Lopez holds a career win percentage of .512 (22-21). Boniel is also chasing records at line one, where he currently stands second in career wins with 21 – seven behind Chris Rice's record of 28. Additionally, Boniel currently holds the record for win percentage at No. 1 singles, as his win percentage of .875 (21-3) stands way out in front of Rice's old record of .509 (28-27).
 
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.
 
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).