Complete Match Notes (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State men's tennis team will look for some home cooking this weekend, as the Vikings host Montana and Montana State Friday and Sunday in need of some wins.
 
The Vikings nearly found a break through at North Dakota last Friday, but were instead saddled with another close loss. The Vikings lost 4-3 to the Fighting Hawks – the fifth match out of 10 the Vikings have lost by a 4-3 or 5-2 score this season.
 
Home matches have been much more friendly for the Vikings over the past two seasons, though, as the Vikings are 11-4 at home since the start of the 2016 season, versus a 3-11 record in away matches over the same stretch.
 
The Vikings had success against both Montana schools the last time they played at Club Green Meadows in 2015, including a 5-2 win over Montana that was the Vikings' first-ever win over the Grizzlies. Only three players will return from that match between both teams, however, with Ethan Lopez as the lone returning Viking.
 
The Grizzlies have been off to a strong start so far in 2017, as they are 2-2 in Big Sky matches after splitting their first two weekends of the conference season. The Grizzlies split a road trip to Northern Colorado and North Dakota earlier in the year, and then split a home stand against Southern Utah and Northern Arizona last weekend. The Grizzlies beat UND 6-1 on the road earlier in the year, giving them a better result than the Vikings against the Fighting Hawks following the Vikings' close, 4-3 loss to UND last Friday.
 
The Grizzlies also beat Montana State in a non-conference match on Feb. 25, winning 6-1 at home.
 
The Bobcats, like the Grizzlies, also played Southern Utah and Northern Arizona last weekend, and split the weekend with a win over Southern Utah and a loss to Northern Arizona just like the Grizzlies. The Bobcats also beat Northern Colorado 5-2 on the road earlier in the season, something the Grizzlies failed to do, as they lost to the Bears before beating UND.
 
The Bobcats also sport a 5-2 win over Seattle this season, giving them another win over an opponent who beat the Vikings twice this season.
 
Both the Grizzlies and Bobcats will offer unique challenges for the Vikings, making any potential home advantage the Vikings can gather all the more important.
 
The Vikings will open the weekend against Montana at 12 p.m. (PT) Friday, and then play Montana State at 9 a.m. (PT) Sunday. Both matches will be played at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.
 
MATCH INFO:
March 10 – vs. Montana – Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) – 12 p.m. (PT)
March 12 – vs. Montana State – Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) – 9 a.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 MONTANA:
• The Montana Grizzlies (6-3, 2-2 Big Sky) have split their first four Big Sky matches, and also hold a 6-1 non-conference win over Montana State at home on Feb. 25. The Grizzlies split their road trip to Northern Colorado and North Dakota, losing at Northern Colorado, 5-2, before beating North Dakota, 6-1. The Grizzlies then split their home stand against Southern Utah and Northern Arizona last weekend, beating the Thunderbirds, 7-0, last Friday, before losing to Northern Arizona, 4-3, last Saturday.
• The Grizzlies return four of the six players who played against the Vikings last season, including All-Big Sky first-team selection Victor Casadevall. Besides Casadevall, the Grizzlies also return senior Peter Mimnagh-Fleming, junior Yannick Schmidl and sophomore Alexander Canellopoulos from their last match against the Vikings.
• Casadevall went 10-0 in Big Sky matches last season, and has moved up in the Grizzlies' singles lineup this season. Casadevall heads into the weekend on a four-match winning streak, and has moved up to line two in the lineup where he holds a 4-1 record so far this season.
• Yannick Schmidl has predominately played at line one in singles for the Grizzlies, and has gone 4-3 at the top spot. Peter Mimnagh-Fleming also played at line one for one match this season, as well as line two and line three, and has a 6-3 overall record this season.
• Freshman Max Korkh has played predominately at line four for the Grizzlies, where he has a 4-2 record, and holds a 6-3 record overall.
• Alex Canellopoulos and junior transfer Ignacio Tejerina also match Casadevall with team-best 4-1 records in Big Sky matches this season, while the pair have predominately played at lines five and six, respectively. Tejerina, like Casadevall, also holds a four-match winning streak going into the weekend, while Canellopoulos holds a three-match winning streak.
• The Grizzlies have a strong record in doubles this season, as they are 15-8 combined as a team during the dual season
• The Grizzlies have played eight different doubles teams in matches this season, though three teams have played five or more matches together. Max Krokh and Peter Mimnagh-Fleming have the best record of any doubles team for the Grizzlies at 5-2 this season, having gone 2-1 and 3-1 at lines one and two, respectively. Alex Cannellopoulos and Yannick Schmidl have also gone 4-2 overall between a 2-2 record at line one and 2-0 record at line two, while Victor Casadevall and Ignacio Tejerina have a 2-3 record together at line three.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS MONTANA:
The Vikings are just 1-10 all-time against Montana, but broke through for their first win over the Grizzlies the last time Montana played at Club Green Meadows. The Vikings beat the Grizzlies 5-2 in 2015, snapping a nine-match losing streak to the Grizzlies since their series started in 2000.
 
SCOUTING MONTANA STATE:
• The Montana State Bobcats (3-8, 2-1 Big Sky), like the Vikings, have played Seattle twice this season, and split a pair of 5-2 matches against the Redhawks on Jan. 20 and 21 to open the season. The Bobcats also won their first two Big Sky matches of the season, beating Northern Colorado on the road, 5-2, on Jan. 29, and Southern Utah, 4-0, at home last Saturday. The Bobcats lost 6-1 at home to Northern Arizona last Sunday, however, and also lost a non-conference match against Montana, 6-1, on the Grizzlies' home court on Feb. 25.
• The Bobcats return five of the six players who played against the Vikings last season, though that doesn't include Harry James, an All-Big Sky honorable mention in 2016. The Bobcats do return senior Kellen Bates, as well as juniors Rok Sitar and Dylan Harvala, and sophomores Alexander Flink and Mateus Ceolin.
• Kellen Bates and Rok Sitar have split time at lines one and two in singles so far this season, with Bates 2-4 at line one and 1-3 at line two, while Sitar stands 2-3 at line one and 3-2 at line two. Sitar had played at line one for four straight matches since the team's match against BYU on Feb. 4, but Bates took back the top spot in the lineup in the Bobcats' last match against NAU last Sunday.
• Alexander Flink and junior Adrian Torrico have split time at lines three and four in singles, with Flink 0-3 at line three and 2-6 at line four, while Torrico holds a 4-4 record at line three and 0-2 at line four.
• The Bobcats have shuffled around the bottom two spots in their singles lineup as well, with freshmen Kasper Parlklo and Max Petrak splitting time at lines five and six, while Mateus Ceolin and Dylan Harvala have played matches at line six.
• The Bobcats have been a strong team in doubles so far this season, as they've won the doubles point in three of their four matches against Big Sky opponents, including the team's non-conference match against Montana. Overall, the Bobcats are 15-15 combined as a team in doubles, and 6-3 combined in Big Sky matches.
• Nine different doubles teams have played in dual matches this season. Alexander Flink and Rok Sitar have played the majority of the team's matches together while going 5-3 overall, including a 4-3 record at line one. Kellen Bates and Adrian Torrico have also gone 2-7 overall together in doubles, while Dylan Harvala and Kasper Parlklo have gone 3-0 overall, all at line three.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS MONTANA STATE:
The Vikings are 1-10 all-time against Montana State, with their only win coming via a 5-2 win at home in 2010. The Vikings have been close in three of their last five matches against the Bobcats, however, as the Vikings had narrow losses in 2012 (4-3), 2013 (4-2) and 2015 (4-3).
 
LAST TIME OUT:
The Vikings were snake bitten by a close match again last Friday, losing 4-3 to North Dakota for their fifth loss by a 4-3 or 5-2 score out of eight losses this season. A close doubles point proved the difference in the match, as UND pulled out a pair of tight, 7-5 matches at lines two and three to counteract Portland State's Nathan Boniel and Tommy Edwards' 6-2 win at line one. Boniel also won in singles for the Vikings, beating North Dakota's Dustin Britton 6-4, 6-2 at line one to sweep his singles and doubles matches for the fourth straight time. Senior Scott Goldner and redshirt freshman Yousef Abdo added two more wins with wins at lines four and six in singles, and both did so while pulling out match tiebreakers. Goldner came back after dropping a close first set to beat North Dakota's Alex Mailes 4-6, 6-1, 10-3 at line four – Goldner's first singles win since he went out with an injury in the Vikings' match against Swarthmore on March 8. Abdo, meanwhile, pulled out the tightest match of the day, as he came back from a 6-4 loss in the first set against North Dakota's Eshan Varma at line six with a 6-0 win in the second set to force a match tiebreaker. Abdo and Varma went past the usual 10 points in the tiebreaker, but Abdo pulled it out in the end to complete his comeback with a 4-6, 6-0, 13-11 win.
 
UPCOMING:
The Vikings take a week off before returning to competition with a road match at Northern Colorado at 10 a.m. (MT) on March 26.
 
BONIEL CHASING CLAIM TO GREATEST PORTLAND STATE PLAYER OF ALL-TIME:
Junior Nathan Boniel completed the best season in program history last season with records for overall singles wins (19), overall singles win percentage (.950) and Big Sky singles wins (9), and is now chasing the career records in all three categories this season. With seven more wins in singles this season, Boniel now has 26 in his two-year Portland State career, just two behind the career record of 28 that Chris Rice (2009-11) and Alex VanDerschelden (2008-11) currently share. Boniel's 26 career wins have also all come at line one in singles, ranking him again just two behind the record of 28 that Rice set during his career. Additionally, Boniel has 11 career Big Sky singles wins, tying him with teammate Ethan Lopez, and ranking him just four wins behind the record another former teammate of his, Ian Risenhoover, set at 15 last season. Boniel already holds the career records for overall win percentage and win percentage at line one, both of which he leads Rice in by a wide margin, .867-to-.509.
 
TOMMY BOY WONDER:
Freshmen Tommy Edwards has been a bright spot for the Vikings in his first year in the Vikings' lineup. 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 ranks second on the team behind Boniel with six singles wins, all of which have come in straight sets. Edwards has also gone 6-4 with Boniel at line one in doubles, and has moved up to line two in the Vikings' singles lineup behind Boniel. Edwards has four wins at line two in singles already this season, a total that ranks him tied for ninth in single-season wins at the position. Alex VanDerschelden set the single-season record for wins at line two at nine in 2010, only five wins ahead of Edwards with eight regular-season matches on the Vikings' schedule.
 
LOPEZ SEEKING RECORDS IN FINAL YEAR AT PORTLAND STATE:
Senior Ethan Lopez is in the final year of his three-year Portland State career, and could cement his legacy as one of the greatest players of all time with a successful senior season. Lopez currently ranks tied for sixth all-time in career singles wins with 24, just four behind the record that Chris Rice (2009-11) and Alex VanDerschelden (2008-11) currently share at 28. Lopez also ranks third all-time in career singles win percentage at .490, and ranks tied for third with teammate Nathan Boniel in career Big Sky singles wins with 11. Additionally, Lopez has been one of the best doubles players in school history throughout his career, having set the record for wins by a doubles team with former teammate Brent Wheeler last season. Lopez also ranks tied for seventh all-time with 26 career individual doubles wins, and ranks third all-time in career doubles win percentage at .565.
 
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).