The final home weekend of the Big Sky season comes this weekend as Portland State men's tennis looks to make the most of its five matches played at Vancouver Tennis Center this season. The Vikings are 2-1 in home conference matches so far and welcome Montana and Eastern Washington to the VTC this weekend.

PSU should enter the match well rested after playing just once last weekend. They defeated Montana State 6-1, the largest margin of victory against the Bobcats in school history. Now, the other Montana school comes to visit in a key matchup for both sides.

The Grizzlies were tabbed the second-best team in the conference in the Preseason Coaches Poll. Montana is undefeated and ahead of the Vikings in conference play, but enter Friday's match on a four-game losing streak.

It is still early in the season, but Montana (second in BSC) and Portland State (fifth in BSC) are two teams with Big Sky championship dreams. This will be the third team with such aspirations to visit the Vancouver Tennis Center this season. The Vikings already picked up a monumental win against Idaho and suffered a close defeat against Sacramento State.

The match against Eastern Washington on Saturday won't be a cake walk for the Vikings either, but it will be a must win. The Eagles are currently at the bottom of the Big Sky standings having lost their first three matches of the season.

The Vikings currently have two of the hottest players in the Big Sky Conference in SR Lucas Castelo Branco and FR Nikola Dimitrijevic. The two players both carry perfect 3-0 conference records in singles.

Castelo Branco, who was named the Big Sky Player of the Week on Feb. 20, has played all of his matches at No. 2. Dimitrijevic is 2-0 at No. 4, but moved up in the lineup against Montana State and picked up a win at No. 3.

Tommy Edwards battled sickness last week and still found a way to complete a comeback victory in three sets. He has now won his last two matches and has more dual wins than any other Viking player with seven so far this season.

Otto Holtari and Sam Roberts are each coming off of wins against Montana State as well, giving Portland State five players that enter this weekend on winnings streaks.

The Vikings have found doubles success as well, with three teams all with five or more wins. Majeed Bukhari and Sam Roberts are 5-2 at No. 3, although they were leading in their previous two matches when the doubles point was clinched and could easily be 7-2.

Matteo Fortini and Castelo Branco are 6-2 while playing at No. 2 and Edwards and Avery West are 7-2 at No. 1. Bukhari/Roberts are the third most successful doubles team with 11 wins, trailing the all-time leaders by five. Castelo Branco/Fortini have six wins at No. 2, making them tied for seventh in wins by a team. They need just three wins to become the most successful team at that spot.

West/Edwards are by far the most successful No. 1 team with 22 wins, nine more than the closest team.

The Vikings will need everything clicking this weekend as they close out Big Sky play at home and prepare for the final half of the season on the road.

SCOUTING MONTANA

-The Grizzlies enter the match 1-0 in Big Sky play, but haven't had a conference match since Feb. 8. They are currently on a four-match losing streak and have a 3-5 overall record.
-Montana reached the Big Sky championship last season, finishing as runner-up. They were picked to finish second again in the Preseason Coaches Poll.
-Ed Pudney and Olsin Shaffrey each have five singles wins for UM. Pontus Hallgren and Max Korkh each have 4-3 records on the season.
-The Hallgren brothers, Ludvic and Pontus, have been the best doubles team for the Grizzlies with a 3-3 record.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. MONTANA

Portland State trails in the all-time series 1-12. The Vikings' only win came in 2015, a 5-2 result in favor of PSU. Last season, the Grizzlies defeated the Vikings 7-0 in Missoula.

SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON

-The Eagles enter the match 1-5 overall and 0-3 in Big Sky play. They are currently on a two-match losing streak. They fell 3-4 to Sacramento State, and 1-6 to both Weber State and Idaho State.
-EWU was picked to finish 10th out of 11 teams in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches Poll.
-The Eagles have won more than a single point just twice this season, losing 1-6 in four matches so far. Manuel Balce has a 3-1 singles record this season for the Eagles.
-The No. 1 doubles team of Jeremy Field/Mikayel Khachatryan has a 3-2 record this year, the best of any Eagles pairing.


ALL-TIME SERIES VS. EASTERN WASHINGTON

Portland State trails the all-time series 4-14. The Vikings won the matchup last season 4-3 on the road in Cheney. The Vikings are 3-7 against the Eagles in home matches.

RECORD CHASERS

The season is still early, but the Vikings have a number of players climbing the record books in program history.

Tommy Edwards has moved into a tie for fourth all-time with 25 career singles wins. He is also fifth in school history in overall win percentage (.500), fifth in Big Sky singles wins (11) and second in overall wins at No. 3 (13).

Matteo Fortini, Lucas Castelo Branco and Nikola Dimitrijevic — all PSU newcomers — have already made their way into the record books for career wins. Fortini is tied for sixth with five wins at No. 1 singles, Castelo Branco is tied for sixth with five wins at No. 2 and Dimitrijevic is tied for eighth with four wins at No. 4.

Sam Roberts, in addition to being second with eight wins at No. 4, has moved into the top 10 at No. 5 this season as well. He has five wins on that line, putting him in a tie for fifth overall.

Otto Holtari is also tied for fifth in school history with six wins at No. 6 singles.

The Vikings also have four players currently in the top seven of the overall singles winning percentage category of the record book. Otto Holtari (.607, 2nd), Avery West (.520, 3rd), Tommy Edwards (.500, 5th) and Sam Roberts (.452, 6th) have been some of the most efficient players in Viking history.


DON'T MESS WITH DIMITRIJEVIC

Nikola Dimitrijevic has had a perfect start to his conference season and has improved all year long. The transfer from the University of Indianapolis has had an impressive season so far for the Vikings while playing anywhere in the lineup.

He is currently 6-2 with a 3-0 record in Big Sky play. Last week against Montana State, he picked up his first career win at No. 3. He also has a 4-0 record at No. 4 and one win at No. 6.

The singles specialist for the Vikings, he has made an instant impact in every Big Sky match. He is currently on a three-match winning streak and has won all three in straight sets, dominating his conference opponents.

GO BRANCO GO

Lucas Castelo Branco has been an outstanding addition to the Viking program this year after transferring in from Oklahoma Baptist. The Brazilian native had his stellar play recognized with the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honor on Feb. 20 after leading PSU to its first-ever win against two-time defending champs Idaho.

He followed that up with a win against Montana State last weekend. Castelo Branco is 6-3 on the season in singles and 6-2 in doubles, playing at No. 2 in both. He has already cracked the top 10 in school history for wins at No. 2 singles with five. He is also more than halfway to the school season record (9) for wins at No. 2.

WESTWARDS!

The talented doubles team of Avery West and Tommy Edwards, nicknamed Westwards when playing together, return for their second year together after a historic debut season. The pair set single-season program records for overall wins (15), wins at No. 1 doubles (15) and win percentage at No. 1 doubles (.682).

Westwards have 22 wins together as a team, tied for the most in program history. They should break the record this weekend, barring any unusual circumstances.

Edwards (31), is in third place in doubles wins by an individual, and West (22) could crack into the top 10 as well. West is tied for 11th all time with a 22-9 record.

The pair is also third in program history with nine Big Sky doubles wins.

"They've played really well the last year and a half," Krauel said of his top team. "They didn't have the great results this fall that we had hoped, but they were an all-conference team last year. They showed some signs at the ITA of playing at a really high level and I think once we get some regular match play they will be a force at No. 1 just like they were last year."

TOMMY, BOY WONDER

In addition to being part of the talented Westwards doubles team (see above), Tommy Edwards has also made a name for himself as one of the best singles players in Vikings history.

Edwards has the most singles wins of any active Viking and is currently tied for 4th on the all-time list with 25 wins. He has picked up 11 of his wins at the No. 2 line while 13 have come while playing No. 3.

He is second in career wins at No. 2 while being tied for second at No. 3 singles.

The junior from Hillsboro is also fifth all-time in Big Sky singles wins with 11. He could rise as high as second place this season. Edwards also has the second best career winning percentage at No. 3 singles (.650) and the third best percentage at No. 2 (.393).

FORZA FORTINI

Italian sophomore Matteo Fortini hasn't waited long to make a big impact for the Vikings. He put together an impressive fall season with a 7-5 record that included a run to the semifinals of the Dar Walters Fall Classic at Boise State.

In the spring, he has continued his run of stellar play. He has a 6-3 record overall, 5-3 at No. 1 singles. He also played one match, which he won, at No. 2. In doubles, he and Lucas Castelo Branco have a 6-2 record while playing on court two.

Fortini has cracked the top 10 in career wins at No. 1 singles and could end the season with the third most wins in that spot in program history.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

This season's iteration of Portland State tennis benefits from having talent in bunches. The Vikings have perhaps the deepest team in school history. There are 10 players currently on the roster with eight making an appearance already this season.

The amount of talent on the courts at practice sessions can only help the team grow as a whole.

"The depth is better than we've ever had here," Krauel said. "We could put our number eight guy at three and he would do fine. So that competition day in, day out in practice, these guys are really pushing each other… There are personal goals going on as well as team goals, and that competition just makes us so much stronger from top-to-bottom."

TOURNEY TEAM

In 2018, the Vikings made the Big Sky conference tournament for the first-time ever under its current format. This year, they are looking to build upon that success with another run at the Big Sky Championships held at the end of April in Phoenix, Ariz.  

In the Big Sky preseason poll, voted on by the conference's coaches, the Vikings were tabbed as a top-six team again. Portland State edged out Sacramento State by one point for sixth place. The top six teams qualify for the tournament, with the top two teams each receiving a first-round bye.

Krauel said that the conference is extremely deep, so each and every match will be crucially important.

"On any given day in this conference any team could beat any other team…  (Our team) has done it in the past in winning 4-3 matches at Montana State and Eastern Washington last year and this year we will rely on those experiences - being under pressure, getting to a conference tournament - to go farther," Krauel said.
 

KRAUEL'S QUEST FOR 50

Head coach Toby Krauel, now in his sixth season at Portland State, has already earned more wins than any other coach in program history. At 47-65 all-time, Krauel is just three wins away from being the first coach to 50 career wins.

Krauel has helped lead Portland State to heights unseen before his arrival. The Vikings have put together the two most successful years in program history under his guidance with a 12-win season in 2016 and last year's 13-win campaign.

He would be the third Viking tennis coach to reach the 50-win mark, joining current women's coach Jay Sterling (53) and former women's coach Shaun Ball (76).