Portland State women's tennis team brought an end to its spring break with a tight loss against UTEP in Flagstaff, Ariz. on Sunday morning. The Vikings and Miners called the match after UTEP won the clinching point, but PSU had leads in the final two matches of what was a much closer match than the final score may indicate.
The Vikings had a chance to take the doubles point, which could have proven to be the deciding factor in the match, but some unforced errors helped the Miners narrowly claim the first point of the day.
The first match to finish was at No. 3, where UTEP rolled to a 6-1 win. The Vikings had an answer with the No. 2 team of
Eszter Zador and
Alli Valk. The pairing won 6-3, leaving the fate of the point on the No. 1 court.
Portland State had jumped out to a lead and were serving up 4-3. A couple of double faults led to a UTEP break, and the Vikings would fall in a tight 6-4 match, giving UTEP a 1-0 dual lead.
They doubled the lead with a quick 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 6 but the Vikings picked up their first point of the day soon after. Alli Valk won in straight sets at No. 5, 6-4, 6-1, to cut the lead to just one point with Vikings battling on every other court.
Jacinta Milenkoski lost a narrow 6-4, 7-5 match at No. 1, but the other three matches all went down to the wire. Unfortunately for Portland State, it was UTEP who won the first tight match at No. 2. Lotti Meszaros took the first set but couldn't withstand a comeback by Vanessa Valdez, who defeated the Viking 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 to clinch the match 4-1.
Portland State had the advantage in the final two matches, but they would both go unfinished. Nina Nikitovic had fought back after dropping the first set and held a 3-0 lead in the third set when the match was called.
Zador also had a lead in her match. She won a tight first set 7-5 and then was in a tiebreaker for the second set, but went unfinished.
The Vikings return home from the spring break road trip with a 1-2 record after picking up their first conference win of the season against Northern Colorado earlier in the week. They now return home and will look to start a new winning streak against Lewis & Clark on April 6 at the Vancouver Tennis Center.
MATCH NOTES: The Vikings are now 0-1 all-time vs. UTEP.
