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VANCOUVER, Wash. — In six days, the Portland State women's tennis team will play a match on St. Patrick's Day. Perhaps that will be enough to change their luck. Until then, the Vikings are stuck with the same cursed, hexed, snake-bitten, black-cat path-crossing, broken mirror luck they've had all season and encountered again Saturday in another narrow, 4-3 loss to Eastern Washington at Club Green Meadows.
 
The loss to the Eagles (4-9, 2-2 Big Sky) marked the fourth 4-3 loss in the Vikings' last six matches, as well as their third 4-3 loss to a Big Sky school.
 
Saturday's loss stung perhaps the most of any this season for the Vikings (0-9, 0-7 Big Sky), as the Vikings came back from a 3-0 deficit in the dual to make it 3-3, and led in the final match to give them a peak at a possible 4-3, comeback win.
 
Senior Tracy Dong and freshman Sally Partington kicked off the Vikings' comeback with three-set wins at lines two and five, respectively, while senior Sabina-Elena Preda added a third point for the Vikings with a straight-sets win at line five. Sophomore Taylor Rees also won the first set of her match against Eastern Washington's Valentina Sottile at line six to put the Vikings a set away from completing the comeback, but Sottile came back to win in three sets and seal the win for the Eagles.
 
"Once again…once again, we put ourselves in position to win the dual and didn't," PSU head coach Jay Sterling said after the match. "It just continues to be a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Everybody competed pretty hard today, but it's just a lack of consistency from match to match.
 
"We cleaned up our unforced errors a lot today, but it still ended up being too many errors at the wrong time that killed our momentum. It's just those kinds of things that continue to be a challenge for us. We've just got to keep finding a way to overcome them and put the pieces of the puzzle together."
 
The comeback was nearly cut out early, as the Eagles were a game away from winning the match at line four while they were leading the dual 3-0. Eastern Washington's Rachel Swindell was serving with a 5-2 lead in the third set at line four, giving her the chance to serve out Partington and give the Eagles a dual-clinching fourth point before the Vikings could get back in the match.
 
Partington broke Swindell at 5-2, however, and then broke again when Swindell had her second chance to serve out the match at 5-4. Partington then held to go up 6-5 in the third set, and earned a match point on Swindell's serve in the ensuing game, before eventually heading into a third-set tiebreaker.
 
Partington ran out to a 4-2 lead in the third-set tiebreaker, and maintained that advantage to 6-4 to earn two match points – the second which of was on her serve. Swindell saved both match points to tie the tiebreaker again at 6-all, but Partington won the next two points after that to close out a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (6) win.
 
By the time Partington finished her match, Dong had already won her match in three sets at line two, putting the Vikings down only 3-2 in the dual, with Preda already a set up at line five.
 
Dong gave the Vikings their first point after pulling out a close second set before cruising to a 6-0 win in the third set.
 
Dong broke initially to go up 4-3 in the second set at line two, and maintained that lead to give herself a chance to serve for the set at 5-4. Eastern Washington's Faye Worrall broke Dong at 5-4 to get back on serve at 5-all, but Dong broke right back to give herself a second chance to serve for the set at 6-5. Worrall came up with another break to force a second-set tiebreaker, but Dong controlled the tiebreaker from the start and won, 7-2.
 
Dong cruised in the third set after her tiebreaker win, and handed Worrall her first Big Sky loss of the season with a 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-0 win at line two.
 
"It was nice to see Tracy break through with a win," Sterling said after the match. "That's where we've struggled – at the top of our lineup – and to see Tracy get that win was really great for her. She's been working really hard. To break through against Faye Worral, who was undefeated in Big Sky play, is great."
 
Dong's win, coupled with Partington's win at line four, set up Preda to level the match for the Vikings, which she did with ease while beating Eastern Washington's Carolina Lopez 6-2, 6-0 at line five.
 
Preda's win over Lopez gave the senior a career record-tying 20th Big Sky singles win, equaling her with her former teammate, Megan Govi (2012-15).
 
With the dual tied at 3-3 following Preda's win, the attention then turned to line six, where Rees had run out to an early lead with a 6-4 win in the first set.
 
Rees broke in the first game of the second set, too, giving her a peak at the finish line with the early lead in the second set. Eastern Washington's Sottile broke right back, however, and then broke Rees two more time while winning the final four games in the second set to level the match with a 6-2 win in the second set.
 
Rees broke in the first game of the third set to give herself another early lead, but Sottile broke back right away once again. Sottile won four straight games following Rees' opening break, giving her a 4-1 lead in the final set. Rees held in the next game, however, and then broke at love to get back on serve at 4-3.
 
Sottile ran out to a love-40 lead in the ensuing game, and while Rees saved the first three break points, Sottile converted on her fourth to give herself a chance to serve for the match at 5-3. Drawing inspiration from Partington, Rees broke Sottile again to get back on serve once more, but Sottile responded with her fourth break of the set to close out a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 win and clinch the dual for the Eagles.
 
In a close match, the Vikings will regret their slow start in doubles, as the Vikings trailed by two breaks in all three doubles matches before mounting comebacks at all three positions.
 
"We really should have done better in our doubles," Sterling said. "We got a slow start. We spotted them all four, five games on every court before we got into it."
 
The Vikings trailed 5-0 at line one in doubles, but Dong and junior Siena Peri broke twice with their opponents serving for the match.
 
The Vikings also got a break back at lines two and three after trailing by two breaks at 4-1 in both matches. Eastern Washington held in both matches to get to 5-3, however, and then finished both matches with a break to win 6-3, and the match at line one went unfinished.
 
Doubles had been a strong point for the Vikings in their close matches before Saturday, as the Vikings won the doubles point in there three previous 4-3 losses this season.
 
And with any luck, the Vikings' strength in doubles will be back for their next match, when the Vikings take on the University of Portland on St. Patrick's Day at Club Green Meadows. First serve for next Friday's match will be 10 a.m.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings fall to 6-17 all-time against Eastern Washington with Saturday's loss…Preda's win at line five also tied her for third all-time in career singles wins with 27, equaling her with Leinani McAneney (1996-98) and Marti Pellicano (2010-13)…Dong also won her 16th career Big Sky singles win in the match Saturday, ranking her four behind Govi and Preda.

Eastern Washington 4, Portland State 3
Mar 11, 2017 at Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) 

Singles competition

1. SMITH, Janaya (EWU) def. PERI, Siena (PSU) 6-1, 0-6, 6-3

2. DONG, Tracy (PSU) def. WORRALL, Faye (EWU) 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0

3. BLESSING, Erin (EWU) def. DOBELL, Georgia (PSU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3

4. PARTINGTON, Sally (PSU) def. SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6)

5. PREDA, Sabina-Elena (PSU) def. LOPEZ, Carolina (EWU) 6-2, 6-0

6. SOTTILE, Valentina (EWU) def. REES, Taylor (PSU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

 

Doubles competition

1. PERI, Siena/DONG, Tracy (PSU) vs. SMITH, Janaya/WORRALL, Faye (EWU) 4-5, unfinished

2. BLESSING, Erin/SWINDELL, Rachel (EWU) def. PARTINGTON, Sally/REES, Taylor (PSU) 6-3

3. DOMINGO, Katrina/SOTTILE, Valentina (EWU) def. DOBELL, Georgia/PREDA, Sabina-Elena (PSU) 6-3

 

Match Notes

Eastern Washington 4-9, 2-2 BSC

Portland State 0-9, 0-7 BSC

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