PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland State men's tennis team will open the 2023 season in California this weekend with new faces leading the way. On Saturday, the Vikings will face UC Santa Barbara (1:45pm), followed by a neutral site dual against Grand Canyon on Sunday.

Viking head coach Vetu Mam enters his fourth season at the helm, carrying a roster of seven newcomers. Transfers Andrea Brignacca (Turnin, Italy/Rollins College), Jonas Hembo Mathiasen (Esbjerg, Denmark/Seward County CC), Jan Semerak (Teplice nad Metuji, Czech Republic/Merrimack College), Andrin Zuellig (Baar, Switzerland/Cardinal Stritch) along with freshmen Simon Kuszynski (Markham, Ontario), Luka Jovanovic (Serbia) and Gregory Gruenig (Winterthur, Switzerland) will all make their debuts as Vikings this weekend.

Portland State's 2023 schedule consists of 20 regular season matches, eight Big Sky contests and ten home duals at Tualatin Hills. The conference slate will begin with a home matchup against Sacramento State on Feb. 17 and will conclude on April 22 at Eastern Washington. The Vikings will strive for their fourth Big Sky Championship Tournament appearance in program history, which will be held in Phoenix, Ariz. from April 27-29.

A strong fall showing has the Vikings optimistic for the dual season, despite being picked eighth in the Big Sky preseason poll released earlier this month. Portland State's fall season began at the ITA Northwest Regionals in Spokane (Oct. 6-10), where six Vikings picked up a win. Their best performance came a month later at the Gonzaga Invitational (Nov 4-6). Playing in Spokane for the second time, the Vikings clinched 10 victories, earning wins over opponents from Washington, Gonzaga, Montana, Eastern Washington and Idaho. The fall schedule came to a close at the Duck Invitational a week later (Nov 11-13), where the Vikings earned eight singles wins, including four over Oregon.
 

OPENING WEEKEND

MATCH #1
Portland State (0-0) vs. UC Santa Barbara (3-0)
When: Saturday, Jan 21 | 1:45 p.m.
Where: Arnold Tennis Center (Santa Barbara, CA)

The Gauchos enter the weekend undefeated after beating Florida Atlantic (4-2), South Florida (4-0) and Rice (4-2) during opening weekend. UCSB has won seven Big West titles in eight years and finished the 2022 season with a 17-6 record.

Saturday's match will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

MATCH #2
Portland State (1-0) vs. Grand Canyon (0-2)
When: Sunday, Jan 22| 11 a.m.
Where: Arnold Tennis Center (Santa Barbara, CA)

The Lopes faced a tough opening weekend schedule, falling to 0-2 on the season after losing to Wichita State (6-1) and No. 15 Arizona (7-0). Freshman Paola Rosati has earned the Lopes only singles win of the season so far, doing so at the No. 5 position against Wichita States Luke Bracks in the season opener.

The all-time series is tied 1-1. The Vikings fell 6-1 in their last meeting with GCU on March 24, 2015.