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VANCOUVER, Wash. — The Dam Cup rivalry ran hot Friday, as Eastern Washington beat the Portland State men's tennis team 5-2 at Club Green Meadows in a heated match that could have easily finished 4-3 in the Vikings' favor.
 
The Vikings (1-7, 0-2 Big Sky) lost the doubles point to the Eagles (4-2, 2-0 Big Sky) despite having the opportunity to serve it out at line three, and also lost in three sets at line five in singles despite having the chance to serve out the first set. Serve out both of those opportunities and the Vikings would have won the match, 4-3.
 
Still, the Vikings showed fight in putting themselves into the position to win those matches. The Vikings lost at lines 3-6 in singles, but the first set of all of those matches were decided by 6-4 or 7-5 scores.
 
"We competed hard. We competed with class. It was a really emotional match," PSU head coach Toby Krauel said. "The guys played together, they played hard, they played smart."
 
Junior Nathan Boniel and freshman Tommy Edwards led the way for the Vikings again, as they swept their singles and doubles matches for the second straight match.
 
The pair started their day with a 6-3 win over Eastern Washington's Robert Dula and Victor Pereira at line one in doubles. Boniel and Edwards served with a 3-2 lead in the match when Dula and Pereira broke them to get back on serve at 3-all. Boniel and Edwards broke right back in the next game, however, and won the final three service games to close out the win.
 
Boniel then faced Dula again in singles, as they faced off in an emotional match at line one. Dula handed Boniel his lone loss in 2016, when Boniel went 19-1 overall and earned Big Sky MVP honors. Additionally, Dula beat Sacramento State's Mikus Losbergs, who beat Boniel in the Vikings' 6-1 loss to the Hornets earlier this season.
 
Boniel got off to a good start against Dula Friday, as he ran out to a two-break lead at 4-1 in the first set. Dula got one of the breaks back with Boniel serving at 4-1, but Boniel held in his next service game and then broke Dula again to take the first set, 6-3.
 
Neither player could establish much of an advantage at the start of the second set, however, as the set stayed on serve until late. Dula managed the first break of the set with Boniel serving at 5-all, giving him a chance to serve for the set at 6-5. Boniel responded with a great return game, though, and broke back to send the second set to a tiebreaker when Dula was administered a point penalty for arguing a call.
 
Boniel stayed the more composed player in the tiebreaker en route to a 7-1 win, giving him the 6-3, 7-6 (1) victory over Dula.
 
Boniel's win over Dula gives the Viking junior his first-ever win over an ITA regionally ranked player, as Dula came into the match ranked 19th in the ITA Northwest region. Additionally, Boniel now has 24 singles wins in his dual-season career, ranking him tied for fifth all-time at Portland State. Boniel needs just four more wins to tie the Portland State career records for overall singles wins and wins at No. 1 singles.
 
Boniel's win Friday also marked the 10th Big Sky singles win of his career, ranking him tied for fourth all-time and just five off the record of 15 that Ian Risenhoover set from 2013-16.
 
Edwards, meanwhile, won the fifth match of his young career, as the Viking freshman cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Eastern Washington's Victor Pereira at line two. Edwards won four straight games to run out to a 5-2 lead over Pereira in the first set. Pereira broke Edwards with Edwards serving for the set at 5-2, but Edwards broke back immediately to take the opening set, 6-3.
 
The players traded breaks to open the second set, but that's about as close as Pereira would get as Edwards took over after that and closed out the match with another break to win 6-3, 6-2.
 
The Vikings also nearly picked up a third win in singles from redshirt freshman Yousef Abdo, who battled back after giving up a big lead in the first set at line five to win the second set, 6-3. Abdo was in the third set of his match when Boniel won at line one, too, making it 3-2 Eagles at that point with Abdo and redshirt freshman Sam Larson still playing at lines five and six, respectively.
 
Abdo fell behind early in the third set at line five, but quickly got the break back to get back on serve. Eastern Washington's Ricardo Almeida broke Abdo again with Abdo serving at 3-4 in the third set, however, and then held on to serve out the match 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 and clinch the dual for the Eagles.
 
Friday's loss to the Eagles drops the Vikings to 0-2 in Big Sky play this season, but the Vikings still have the majority of their conference matches ahead of them.
 
"Eastern is a good team and we just came up short," Krauel said after Friday's match. "There were a couple of service games that we'd like back. We're going to regroup and really work on getting better serving. If we serve well, and make a lot of first serves, then we have a pretty good chance to win."
 
The Vikings will play one final non-conference match against Linfield next Thursday, before finishing the season with a run of nine straight Big Sky matches. The Vikings will host the Wildcats at 5:30 p.m. at the St. Johns Racquet Center in Portland, Ore.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fall to 3-14 all-time against Eastern Washington with Friday's loss…Boniel and Edwards each rank tied for the team lead with five wins this season after Friday…Boniel and Edwards improved to 4-4 this season in doubles with their win at line one.
 
Eastern Washington 5, Portland State 2
Feb 17, 2017 at Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) 

Singles competition

1. BONIEL, Nathan (PSU) def. DULA, Robert (EWU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-1)

2. EDWARDS, Tommy (PSU) def. PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) 6-3, 6-2

3. PAZ, Scott (EWU) def. LOPEZ, Ethan (PSU) 6-4, 6-1

4. RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) def. GOLDNER, Scott (PSU) 6-4, 6-0

5. ALMEIDA, Ricardo (EWU) def. ABDO, Yousef (PSU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3

6. VUCKOVIC, Vuk (EWU) def. LARSON, Sam (PSU) 7-5, 6-1

 

Doubles competition

1. BONIEL, Nathan/EDWARDS, Tommy (PSU) def. DULA, Robert/PEREIRA, Victor (EWU) 6-3

2. PAZ, Scott/RAVEAU, Flavien (EWU) def. LOPEZ, Ethan/GOLDNER, Scott (PSU) 6-2

3. BENDJELTI, Wacil/ALMEIDA, Ricardo (EWU) def. ABDO, Yousef/LARSON, Sam (PSU) 7-5

 

Match Notes

Eastern Washington 4-2, 2-0 BSC

Portland State 1-7, 0-2 BSC

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (4,2,3,1,5,6)