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VANCOUVER, Wash. — The Portland State women's tennis team nearly won their first match of the season despite playing with only five players Sunday, as they lost a close, 4-3 match to Northern Colorado at Club Green Meadows.
 
The Vikings (0-11, 0-7 Big Sky) won the doubles point despite having to forfeit the match at line three, and then had three matches in singles go to three sets. The Vikings needed to sweep all three matches to pull out the dual, but only won two of the three, leaving the Vikings one point short of a breakthrough win.
 
"The thing that you can't see on paper and on the score sheet is the heart that this team has," head coach Jay Sterling said after the match. "It's just been a really challenging season and lesser teams would have just faltered, all weekend. It probably should have been a 3-4 loss against Weber State [on Friday], 3-4 today. We took the doubles point. We had opportunities to take the dual, but with only five people. We're missing some of our key players on this team and this team just continues to come out and fight and battle. As a coach, that's all you can ask for.
 
"I have so much respect for what these ladies are doing every weekend. It'd be nice to get one of these to go our way, but we're close. We're asking a lot of a lot of players and everybody's just stepping up."
 
The Vikings stepped up against the Bears (3-7, 1-3 Big Sky) Sunday, as they came back from a set down to win the matches at lines one and two in singles, and trailed at lines one and two in doubles before coming back to win both matches to take the doubles point.
 
Ashley Knecht and Taylor Rees trailed 3-0 in their match against UNC's Madeline Doherty and Sarina Chhabra at No. 2 doubles, but won six of the final seven games to come back and win, 6-4.
 
Siena Peri and Eszter Zador played a back-and-forth match against UNC's Tristen Bryant-Otake and Raffa Mora at line one. Bryant-Otake and Mora came into the match with a 6-3 record together this season, but it was Peri and Zador who took the first lead in the match, breaking at 3-all to go up 4-3. Bryant-Otake and Mora broke back right away to get to 4-all, and put pressure on Peri and Zador with Peri serving to send the match to a tiesbreaker at 6-5. Peri and Zador fell behind love-30 in the final service game, but came back and saved a match point at deuce to force a tiebreaker. Bryant-Otake and Mora won the first point of the tiebreaker on their serve, but Peri and Zador rattled off the next seven points in a row to win the match 7-6 (1).
 
The win at No. 1 doubles extends Peri's career wins record at the position to 25, and moves her within one win of tying her former teammates Dané Vorster and Sabina-Elena Preda for the career record for Big Sky doubles wins, which Vorster and Preda currently share at 17.
 
"Doubles today was much better than it was on Friday," Sterling said. "Today was more our style of doubles, which was nice to see. More aggressive and playing smart and taking care of our serves. It was just a better job today in doubles."
 
Peri and Zador also led the comeback for the Vikings in singles, as the Vikings lost the first set in four of the five contested singles matches against the Bears.
 
Zador found herself in an especially dire situation against Anna Battersby at line two, as she lost the first set to Battersby 6-1, and started the second set down a break at 2-0. Zador picked up her game from there, however, winning six of the final seven games in the second set to win it, 6-3.
 
Zador ran into trouble again at the start of the third set, as she gave a break back after going up 2-0, and then faced two break points at 2-all in the set. Zador saved both break points, however, and did not drop a game the rest of the way as she closed out a 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. Zador broke Battersby in all but one of Battersby's service games after going 2-0 and a set down in the second set.
 
Peri lost the first set of her match against Bryant-Otake at line one, 6-4, after Bryant-Otake broke Peri in her final service game of the set. Peri broke for a 3-2 lead early in the second set, however, and then broke again to go up 5-2. Bryant-Otake broke back to stay in the second set, but Peri broke her again in the following game to take the second set, 6-3.
 
Peri faced three break points at 2-all in the third set, but saved all three and then broke Bryant-Otake in the next game to take a 4-2 lead. Bryant-Otake broke back in the next game to get back on serve in the final set, but Peri broke her again to take a 5-3 lead. Peri served out the match in the following game for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win. The last two games were nervy wins for Peri, who converted on her third break point to take the 5-3 lead, and then saved two break points in the final game of the match.
 
Taylor Rees nearly added a third win for the Vikings in singles, which would have put the Vikings over the top in the dual. Rees fought back multiple times to take the first set off Chhabra in a tiebreaker at line four. Rees was broken in the first game of the match, but broke back right away and then held for a 2-1 lead. Chhabra broke again for a 3-2 lead, but Rees again broke back and then held for a 4-3 lead. The players each held their next service game from there, before Chhabra broke again for a 6-5 lead. Rees broke Chhabra with Chhabra serving for the set, and then ran out to a 4-1 and mini-break lead in the ensuing set tiebreaker. Rees held the mini-break advantage the rest of the way before winning the tiebreaker on her third set point, 7-5.
 
Chhabra raised her level in the second and third sets, however, and came back to beat Rees 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1.
 
The Vikings will be back in action next Sunday, when they host Southern Utah in another Big Sky match at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver, Wash.
 
"We've just got to keep fighting," Sterling said. "They're really representing what a Portland State Viking is all about here. I think anybody who would come out here and watch them play would be proud to be a Viking in spite of the results because this is the definition of leaving everything you have out on the court."
 
First serve between the Vikings and Thunderbirds will be at 10 a.m.
 
Northern Colorado 4, Portland State 3
Mar 18, 2018 at Vancouver, Wash. (Club Green Meadows) 

Singles competition

1. PERI, Siena (PSU) def. Bryant-Otake, Triste (UNC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

2. ZADOR, Eszter (PSU) def. Battersby, Anna (UNC) 1-6, 6-3, 6-2

3. Doherty, Madeline (UNC) def. UPENIECE, Gerda (PSU) 6-1, 6-3

4. Chhabra, Sarina (UNC) def. REES, Taylor (PSU) 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-1

5. Koitabashi, Mana (UNC) def. KNECHT, Ashley (PSU) 6-0, 6-3

6. Blanchard, Carrigan (UNC) def. No player (PSU), by default

 

Doubles competition

1. PERI, Siena/ZADOR, Eszter (PSU) def. Bryant-Otake, Triste/Mora, Rafa (UNC) 7-6 (7-1)

2. REES, Taylor/KNECHT, Ashley (PSU) def. Doherty, Madeline/Chhabra, Sarina (UNC) 6-4

3. Battersby, Anna/Blanchard, Carrigan (UNC) def. No player/No player (PSU), by default

 

Match Notes

Northern Colorado 3-7, 1-3 BSC

Portland State 0-11, 0-7 BSC

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