Vikings Enter Home Stretch of Season With High Hopes

The Portland State women's tennis team returns home this weekend, looking to get a home win to gain some momentum as they enter the final stretch of the season. The Vikings will take on Lewis & Clark in the lone match this week. After that, PSU will have just three matches left in the 2019 season.

The joy of the first conference win of the season lifted Portland State through a long spring break road trip. The Vikings knocked off Northern Colorado 5-2, snapping a 17-match conference losing streak that dated back to 2017.

Portland State then gave a great fight to UTEP, despite what the final score may have indicated. They narrowly lost the doubles point and while the Miners may have clinched the dual 4-1, Portland State held leads in the final two matches. The win against Northern Colorado was a start, but head coach Jay Sterling and his team hope there is much more in store for this season.

Lewis & Clark present an opportunity to start a winning streak this weekend. Next, they will take on D-II Dixie State on the road before trying to finish the conference season strong against Southern Utah and Sacramento State. The Vikings will need to win out to have a chance at the Big Sky tournament, as there are currently eight teams with at least three Big Sky wins. The conference takes six teams to the tournament in Phoenix.

Alli Valk helped lead the Vikings last week by putting together a very impressive three-match run. She started it off by defeating her Northern Colorado opponent in three-sets. After that, she dropped a tight match against Northern Arizona but rebounded against UTEP with a 6-4, 6-1 win.

Eszter Zador was also on pace to win two matches before her match went unfinished against UTEP. The Vikings have been battling injury issues all season, but are finally starting to get healthy as they approach the finish line.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. LEWIS & CLARK

The Vikings are 9-6 all-time vs. Lewis & Clark, but have a 2-3 record against them in home matches. The two sides last met on Feb. 6, 2015 in a 7-0 Portland State win.

SCOUTING LEWIS & CLARK

-The Pioneers are a Division-III team that is 3-5 this season. They spent last week off, but have lost the previous two matches coming into this weekend's dual.
-Lewis & Clark is 3-0 in road matches while going 0-5 at home this season.
-Rachael Rice has the best record on the team (4-2) and is currently on a four-match winning streak. They have a winning record at No. 3 doubles but have played seven different pairings at the line.

VALK THE VALK, TALK THE TALK

Alli Valk had a very impressive spring break trip that saw her go 2-1 in both singles and doubles matches. She swept both against Northern Colorado, winning her singles match 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (3) and doubles 6-0 with Eszter Zador.

She finished the weekend with wins against UTEP, again pairing with Zador for 6-3 doubles win. Then in singles, she won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5. Valk has excelled since moving to the No. 5 spot in the lineup, going 4-2 overall at that spot. Valk/Zador is also the winningest doubles team for Portland State this year with a 3-6 overall record.

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 6-3/5-3 BSC on the year while playing between No. 3 and 4. Her six wins are the most 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 with her 20th singles match. She currently sits in 5th place in PSU history with a .545 winning percentage.

She is also close to breaking into the top 20 in Portland State history for total singles wins, needing just three more this year. Zador is tied for ninth in program history with nine Big Sky singles wins.

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 against Lewis-Clark State (3/9/19). She won her first career Big Sky Conference match against Eastern Washington (3/17/19) with a two-set win at No. 2. She is 3-8 on the year in singles and 2-7 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 3-5 on the season.

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 (3/1/19) after missing the first matches of the season because of injury. She played No. 1 and won her first dual as a Viking against Lewis-Clark State (3/9/19). She also won her first doubles match while playing at No. 1 with Nikitovic.

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.

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Players Mentioned

Taylor Rees: Senior; 3L

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

Alli Valk
: Junior; 1L

Eszter Zador
: Junior; 1L

Jacinta Milenkoski
: Freshman; HS

Nina Nikitovic
: Sophomore; TR

Lotti Meszaros
: Sophomore; TR