Home court advantage: Vikings

After a three-week hiatus, the Portland State women’s tennis squad returns to action this weekend to face opponents from three teams in as many days here in Portland. The men’s team, meanwhile, has a break of their own, with only one game on the weekend docket.

The Portland State women host Southern Oregon today at the Stott Center, followed by Big Sky Conference opponent Montana on Saturday at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center in North Portland. The Viks will close out the weekend at the Stott on Sunday with another non-conference game, this time with Seattle University.

The light weekend for the men’s team features a Sunday meeting with regional rivals Lewis & Clark at the Stott Center. The men enter into the game against the Pioneers on the back of two impressive performances against conference opponents last weekend. On Saturday, a valiant Vikings team came back to defeat Eastern Washington 4–3, after narrowly falling to Montana by the same score on Friday.

“What impressed me most about our team last weekend was their ability to bounce back and fight with such vigor after their emotional loss to Montana the night before,” said Jay Sterling, interim head coach for both the men’s and women’s teams.

The men’s squad is currently 3–5 overall this season and stands third in the Big Sky Conference rankings. The Vikings played Lewis & Clark twice in 2009, and on both occasions defeated the Pioneers with a 7–0 score.

“[Coaches] Gundars Tilmanis and Jimmy Chau do a really great job with their team at Lewis & Clark, and they always have their teams prepared to compete,” Sterling said. “I anticipate more of the same from us—relentless pressure on our opponents, fighting for every point, and support for our teammates up and down the roster.”

The women’s team, currently 0–4 this season, are placed at the bottom of the conference standings. In their last two away games back in late January, the Vikings suffered defeat to both Colorado State and Northern Colorado after forfeiting two singles and a doubles match to both opponents because the NCAA had yet to clear two transfers for play. The Vikings resume their 2010 campaign after an extended three-week break.

“Considering the circumstances of their season so far, including a coaching change, and injury to their top player and team captain, and being forced to play three of their four matches without a full lineup, the women have shown quite a bit of competitive spirit,” Sterling said.

The most important match for the women’s team this weekend will undoubtedly be the one against Montana. In last year’s meeting, the Viks lost to the Grizzlies 5–2, but this season Montana has a 1–3 overall record.

Seattle has an overall record of 2–6 this season, and also emerged victorious over Portland State last season with a narrow 4–3 win.

“None of the matches this weekend will be easy. Southern Oregon has pretty much a new team in terms of their roster, so there isn’t a lot of data to go on with them. Being the first match we’ve played in a while, we will have to settle in quickly. I’m expecting [SOU] to be well disciplined and well prepared to compete, so we’ll need to be ready to grind, for sure,” Sterling said.