VANCOUVER – Winning its fourth consecutive dual, the Portland State men's tennis team remains perfect in Big Sky action after defeating Southern Utah 6-1 on Friday afternoon at the Vancouver Tennis Center.
The Vikings improve to 4-3 on the season and 2-0 in Big Sky Conference action while Southern Utah drops to 3-4, 0-1 in the BSC.
For the second match in a row, the Vikings secured a crucial doubles point, winning two of the three matches.
Matteo Fortini and
Majeed Bukhari continued their dominance as a duo, winning 6-4 for their third consecutive victory. Clinching the point was
Nikola Dimitrijevic and
Sahal Bukary who fought off four match points while bouncing back down 5-3 in the tiebreaker, winning the tiebreaker 11-9. They are now 2-0 in duals as double partners, winning their last two outings.
Fortini continued his success into singles play, finishing first with a decisive 6-1, 6-2 win at the No. 1 spot. He is now 4-2 in dual play, winning his fourth consecutive match.
Tommy Edwards got back on the winning side of things in his singles match, dominating to a 6-1, 6-2 result at No. 2.
Clinching the dual for the second straight week, Dimitrijevic won his match in straight sets at No. 3, winning 6-2, 6-2 to improve his win-streak to three matches.
Winning his fourth straight match was
Sam Roberts who improves his overall record to 6-5 on the year after winning at the No. 4 spot 6-3, 6-2 to give the Vikings a 5-0 lead in the dual.
Bukhari hung on to his victory at No. 5, winning the first set before SUU tied the match, sending it to a 10-point tiebreaker. Bukhari kept ahead before winning the final point 11-9 to earn his third singles victory of the season.
The Vikings will travel for the first time in nearly a month as they take on Montana State and Montana beginning Saturday, Mar. 7.
RESULTS:
SINGLES:
- FORTINI, Matteo (PSU) def. RJ Parker (SUU) 6-1, 6-2
- EDWARDS, Tommy (PSU) def. Juan Erro (SUU) 6-1, 6-2
- DIMITRIJEVIC, Nikola (PSU) def. Nolan McCaig (SUU) 6-2, 6-2
- ROBERTS, Sam (PSU) def. Jose Ortega (SUU) 6-3, 6-2
- BUKHARI, Majeed (PSU) def. Jake Williams (SUU) 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)
- Conor Tordoff (SUU) def. HOLTARI, Otto (PSU) 6-1, 6-4
DOUBLES:
- Juan Erro/Conor Tordoff (SUU) def. EDWARDS, Tommy/ROBERTS, Sam (PSU) 7-6 (7-4)
- BUKHARI, Majeed/FORTINI, Matteo (PSU) def. Jake Williams/Nolan McCaig (SUU) 6-4
- BUKARY, Sahal/DIMITRIJEVIC, Nikola (PSU) def. RJ Parker/Jose Ortega (SUU) 7-6 (11-9)