Author: Tom Sedun

Heading into the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage over Thanksgiving weekend, the men’s basketball squad still had some questions to answer despite their perfect 3-0 record.

College basketball drama and late game heroics are usually reserved until the month of March, but after just three games the Vikings have already had their share of excitement and big victories. Portland State continued its superb second half play and picked up their third victory in their young season as they defeated Cal State Fullerton 76-75 in a thrilling victory Sunday at the Stott Center.

The job of the team captain is to make their teammates better and to always be ready to lead the team to victory. After being named Big Sky player of the Week, Jeremiah Dominguez proved why he is Portland State’s captain. Dominguez scored 23 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead the team in defeating the University of Portland 81-76 in front of 1,500 at the Stott Center Tuesday night.

The defending Big Sky conference champions started their 2008-09 campaign by defeating the Rice Owls in Houston, Texas Saturday afternoon, 78-74.

After reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time last year, Portland State hopes to keep its dancing shoes on and return again this March. In most preseason polls the Vikings were picked to repeat as Big Sky Conference champs despite the fact that the team lost seven players from last year’s team, including three starters. In order to fill the void, head coach Ken Bone added some talented transfer students and inked some gifted preps to this year’s team.

In a match that had stakes for first place on the line, the Vikings put on an impressive display, easily defeating Northern Colorado in straight sets at the Stott Center (25-22, 25-20, 25-15). The victory gives the Vikings sole possession of first place in the conference and a half game lead over Northern Colorado.

After another successful weekend on the road, the Vikings head into the final games of their schedule and find themselves in a familiar position: playing for a Big Sky Conference regular season championship. Following an easy defeat of a winless Montana State squad, the Vikings visited Missoula to face the Grizzlies, the fifth best team in the conference. The Vikings would defeat Montana in a close match that featured 23 tied scores. The Vikings prevailed winning in four sets, 26-24, 25-21, 27-29, 25-21.

In the midst of a three-game losing streak, and after having their 27-game conference home winning streak snapped last Friday, the volleyball team responded by defeating Weber State in straight sets Thursday night at the Stott Center.

Following an offseason in which the team lost arguably their best player to graduation and their coach to another school, the Portland State softball team was eager to take the field and wipe out the taste of those losses and their disappointing 2008 regular season. In preparation for their regular season that begins in February, the Vikings play several games each fall. The four games this season were especially important as the team looked to replace star pitcher Mandy Hill and former head coach Amy Hayes, who resigned this summer to become the head coach at Bradley University.

Stepping into tennis coach Brian Parrott’s office, you instantly notice the collected memories of a lifetime of experiences around the game of tennis. He has a photograph of tennis professionals Andy Roddick and James Blake from last December’s Davis Cup, a tennis tournament featuring individuals competing as teams against other nations, which Parrot helped bring to Portland.

Junior Nate Endicott has been running with the Portland State cross country team since 2006. After a standout prep career at Thurston High in Springfield, Endicott has prospered in the South Park Blocks. In both of the team’s races this season, Endicott has been the top finisher from Portland State, and in their most recent meet Endicott finished sixth in the 8k race with a time just under 26 minutes. Recently the Vanguard got Endicott to slow down to answer a few questions.