BEAVERTON, Ore. – The Portland State women's tennis team seized a much-needed victory on Sunday afternoon, defeating conference foe Eastern Washington 5-2 at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center.
"Eastern is well coached and tough to play against," Viking head coach Kyle Russell said after the win. "I thought we were more ready to play this week and I'm happy with the way we responded."
Prior to Sunday's success, the Vikings had endured three consecutive conference losses. However, they turned the tide, securing their second Big Sky victory of the year to improve to 5-6 (2-3 BSC), while the Eagles fell to 3-10 (1-1 BSC).
Senior Capu Sanoner expressed the victory's significance, saying, "Today's win felt very special. We put in the work this week and were ready to bounce back and fight from start to finish."
Portland State's success began in doubles, sweeping the field for the second time in conference play. Scarlett Perkins and Sanoner opened with a 6-1 victory over Isabella Foshee and Scout Mathews at line one. At No. 2, Momoko Yoshimura and Nika Beukers picked up their fifth victory of the year, 6-3, over Anait Arutiunian and Jennifer Kida before Elizabeth Strongina and Makoto Ohara finished things off, beating Kenzington Mann and Leandra Nizetic, 6-3 at No.3.
The Vikings clinched the match with four wins in singles play. In just her fourth singles match of the season, Sanoner battled to a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win over Kida on court three. Yoshimura and Strongina secured straight-set victories over Kelly Arends and Mathews, respectively. Yoshimura won 6-3, 6-4 at line five while Strongina prevailed 7-5, 6-1 on the top court.
The Vikings' fifth point was earned by Beukers in a three-set battle at line two. Despite a 6-1 setback in the first set, she rallied to claim a hard-fought 7-6 (4) victory in set two. The junior clinched the come-from-behind win with a 10-8 advantage in the super tiebreak.
Sanoner commended her teammates after the match, stating, "I could feel the energy flowing between every court which gave us the strength to pull off some great individual wins. Big shoutout to Nika for proving that it's never over until the end, and to Mako for hitting the best volleys I have ever seen."
Looking ahead, Portland State will face Nevada on Tuesday, March 26 (noon PT). They'll spend the next several weeks preparing for their final five regular-season matches, four of which will be played on the road.
