Serving a new season

The Portland State men’s and women’s tennis program hired a full time assistant coach, Angelo Niculescu, before the start of the 2012 season. A former University of South Carolina player, Niculescu is the first full time assistant in the program’s history.

“I am very excited to have Angelo fill that role,” third-year head coach Jay Sterling said in a statement. “His strong résumé as both a player and a coach make him qualified to be an assistant coach at any Division I school around the nation, so I’m really happy that he chose to join our coaching staff here at Portland State.”

Born in Romania, Nicolescu previously served as the tennis director at the Cascade Athletic Club and a part-time assistant coach at George Fox University. He played on the ATP World Tour and the Pacific Northwest Men’s Open tour.

“First of all, I’m very excited,” Niculescu said in a statement. “Becoming a college coach has been a long-time dream for me. I was very lucky to find Jay [Sterling] and to have the opportunity to come here. It’s indescribable. Here I am, and I’m ready to rumble.”

The tennis programs were without an assistant coach during the fall season. During this period, the men’s team won the singles competition in the Corvallis City Championship and put in competetive performances in the ITA Northwest Regional Championship and the PNW Intercollegiate Championship.

The women’s team also took home a singles championship from Corvallis and competed in the Cougar Classic in Pullman, Wash., the CS Fullerton Intercollegiate and the Bulldog Classic.

Last season, the men’s tennis team finished seventh among the nine teams in the Big Sky Conference and fell short of the playoffs. Despite some competitive mid-season performances, the Viks ended their campaign with a 2-6 record in the conference and a 5-13 overall. In 2010, Portland State finished fifth (4-4) in the conference and 7-10 overall.

“It was kind of a roller coaster season for the guys,” Sterling said. “We had it in us to have more success than we did. We lost some heartbreaking matches and I thought sometimes we recovered well from those and other times we didn’t.”

The women’s team had their most successful season in 2011. They finished sixth in the Big Sky Conference with three wins. Playing at the number one singles and doubles position last year, senior and All-Big Sky player Yuki Sugiyama finished the season with a program-best 13-4 singles record.

“This season [2011] Yuki has been a really solid performer and a great motivator for our team,” Sterling said last year. “She has really stepped up and held her own at the number one position and competed well and dominated. The whole team is proud of her.”

On the men’s side, junior Mitch Somach was the best singles player in 2011. He finished the season with nine wins and seven losses. Last season also marked the end of the collegiate tennis careers of seniors team captain Jeff Cero, Matt Erickson, Vetu Mam, Chris Rice and Alex VanDerschelden.

The men’s tennis team kicks off its 2012 campaign against Seattle at home on Jan. 20 while the women play Washington State away on Jan. 27.