Vikings Look to Start Winning Streak against Eastern Washington

The Portland State women's tennis team took care of a losing streak last weekend and now is hoping the success will roll over into conference play. The Vikings return home on Sunday for a match against Eastern Washington with the hopes of snapping a 15-match conference losing streak.

A healthy Viking squad showed what it is capable of last weekend in a clean sweep of Lewis-Clark State. The victory broke a 21-match losing streak that dated back to 2017, which helped ease the mind of coach Jay Sterling and his team after a bit of a shaky start to the year.

The Vikings are still winless in conference play as they reach the midway point against Eastern Washington, but the tides are starting to turn.

Jacinta Milenkoski is back in the lineup and playing the top spot for PSU. Last weekend, the freshman from Sydney, Australia picked up her first career dual win at the college level. She defeated Begona Andres 6-4, 6-3 for the career first.

She wasn't the only Viking to pick up a meaningful win against the Warriors. Lotti Meszaros, a transfer from Radford, won her first dual match as a Viking as well. She played at No. 2 and rolled to an easy 6-2, 6-2 win.

In the top-to-bottom sweep, a number of other players picked up wins to add to their season totals. Alli Valk won her second consecutive match and is now 2-1 while playing at No. 5 this season. She beat Sophie Uhlenkott easily, 6-1, 6-1.

Nina Nikitovic, a transfer from Portland, won her third match in the last four outings in dominant fashion. She has been one of the best players on the roster this season and has benefitted from Milenkoski's return. She slid down to No. 3 where she is 2-1 on the year.

Gerda Upeniece picked up her second win in her last three matches as well, earning a come-from-behind victory after dropping the first set. She cruised from there on out, winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6.

Last but certainly not least, Eszter Zador kept up what has been the best start to the season for any Viking. She won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 and is now 4-1 in duals this season.

The Vikings also won the doubles point for the first time this year, picking up easy wins in all three matches. Sterling mixed up his lineups and played some teams that had never been together before.

At the top spot, Milenkoski/Nikitovic won its first match as a team 6-2. Nikitovic has played every match at No. 1 this year with several different partners. The win with Milenkoski was the first doubles win for both players.

The team of Valk/Zador has played together for much of the season and picked up its first win against Lewis-Clark State as well. They won 6-1 at No. 2 and are now 1-3 as a team this year.

Sterling may have found a successful pairing at No. 3 with Meszaros/Upeniece. The pairing is 2-0 on the year so far, winning against Montana State in February and Lewis-Clark State last weekend.

The Vikings are set for a new start. They are ready to put the past behind them. The losing streaks don't matter anymore, what matters is the team is back to full strength and ready to prove it has what it takes to win against Eastern Washington on Sunday.

SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON

-The Eagles enter the week 6-6 overall and 3-1 in the Big Sky. They will take on New Mexico in a home match on Friday before meeting against the Vikings.
-Eastern Washington was picked fourth in the preseason Big Sky Coaches Poll. They have yet to play against a team above them from that poll. Their only Big Sky loss this season came against Weber State, a team picked to finish one place below them.
-The Eagles and Vikings have played against four common opponents (Portland, Montana State, Idaho State and Weber State) so far this season. The Eagles finished 3-1 against them while the Vikings were winless in the four matches.
-Madeline Lamoreaux leads the Eagles this season with a 7-5 record and has held down the top spot in their lineup in all 12 matches. Zoey Nelson also has seven wins, but has played in just nine matches. She is on a six-match winning streak and played at No. 2 in their last outing.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. EASTERN WASHINGTON

The Vikings are 6-18 all-time against the Eagles. Eastern Washington has won the last three meetings in the series. PSU is 2-10 in home matches, but also picked up a win in a neutral site match at Portland.

E.Z. DOES IT

A hot start to the season for junior Eszter Zador has set the pace for one of the top returners from a year ago. She is 4-1 on the year while playing at No. 4, the most wins on the team.

Last season, the junior from Hungary finished 5-6 in the Big Sky while competing at the No. 2 line. She finished the fall with winning one singles match and three doubles.

Zador's five wins at No. 2 are tied for the eighth most in that spot in Portland State history. She is even higher in win percentage at No. 2 singles, where her .455 percentage is good for third all time. She recently cracked the top 10 and is currently 9th in school history with four career wins at No. 4.

Zador met the minimum match requirement to qualify for the program record in winning percentage last week with her 20th singles match. She currently sits in 5th place in PSU history with a .550 winning percentage.

She is also close to breaking into the top 20 in Portland State history for total singles wins, needing just four more this year. Zador is also just one Big Sky singles win away from breaking into the top 10 in that category.

REES' PIECES

Taylor Rees has a chance to go down as one of the all-time best at Portland State. She is the career leader for both total wins (14) and winning percentage (.538) at No. 6 singles. In doubles, Rees is fifth all-time with 13 wins at No. 2. She is also sixth in winning percentage (.419) at No. 2 doubles.

This season, Rees could make a run at some all-time marks. She is currently 10th all-time in career winning percentage (.439) and just one win away from making the top 10 in career wins. In doubles, she needs just three total wins to break into the top 10 total career wins. She is also tied for fourth in career Big Sky singles wins (15) and could possibly rise into the top three this season.

WHAT'S NEW?

This season, Portland State had three newcomers join that could each see a lot of playing time in 2019. Lotti Meszaros (Radford) and Nina Nikitovic (Portland) come to the Park Blocks by way of transfer.

Meszaros finished the fall season 6-7 in singles play and has seen time playing at the top spot this spring. She claimed the individual title at the PNW Open by winning the first three matches of her Viking career.

She won her first dual as a Viking last week against Lewis-Clark State. She is 1-5 on the year in singles and 2-2 in doubles matches.

Nikitovic battled injury in the fall, but did combine with Meszaros to go 2-2 as a doubles team, including wins against competition from Portland and Big Sky rival Sacramento State. She is now playing No. 2 for the Vikings and is off to a good start in the spring. Nikitovic is 3-3 on the season, one of three Viking players with at least a .500 record.

True freshman Jacinta Milenkoski also had an impressive debut in the fall. She reached the final of the PNW Open singles draw and finished the fall with a 5-6 record in singles play. Milenkoski also found success in the doubles competition with Taylor Rees, as the team finished the fall 2-4.

She made her spring debut against Idaho State after missing the first matches of the season because of injury. Last weekend, she played No. 1 and won her first dual as a Viking against Lewis-Clark State. She also won her first doubles match while playing at No. 1 with Nikitovic.

TRENDING UP(ENIECE)

Sophomore Gerda Upeniece has been playing well as of late, winning two of her last three matches. She is one of two Vikings with a winning singles record this spring, going 2-1. She has played No. 6 twice, winning both matches.

Upeniece is also the only Viking with a doubles record above .500. She is 2-1 in the spring, winning both of her matches while playing at No. 6.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Rees: Senior; 3L

Gerda Upeniece: Sophomore; 1L

Alli Valk: Junior; 1L

Eszter Zador: Junior; 1L

Jacinta Milenkoski: Freshman; HS

Nina Nikitovic: Sophomore; TR

Lotti Meszaros: Sophomore; TR

Players Mentioned

Taylor Rees
: Senior; 3L

Gerda Upeniece
: Sophomore; 1L

Alli Valk
: Junior; 1L

Eszter Zador
: Junior; 1L

Jacinta Milenkoski
: Freshman; HS

Nina Nikitovic
: Sophomore; TR

Lotti Meszaros
: Sophomore; TR