Sports briefs for January 21 2009

Invited to participate in the third annual Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Challenge game on Jan. 31 in El Paso, Texas, was Vikings senior linebacker Andy Schantz.

Schantz was named the Vikings most valuable player, as well as finished among the top finishers for the best defensive player at the Football Championship Subdivision level after leading Portland State with 115 tackles this season.

Schantz could be the third linebacker in as many seasons to make the transition from Portland State to the NFL, joining Jordan Senn and Adam Hayward with Indianapolis and Tampa Bay, respectively.

Pre-released was the Vikings football schedule for 2009. In what will be a telling year to mark the progress of third-year head coach Jerry Glanville, the Vikings will play a nonconference game at Oregon State on Sept. 5.
They will kick off Big Sky play with a trip to Montana to face the Grizzlies on Sept. 19.

The schedule appears to set up favorably for the Vikings with two bye weeks and home games against conference powers Weber State, Northern Arizona and Montana State.

Renaming the Convention Center Dock for the late Portland Trail Blazer, Kevin Duckworth. The dock will be renamed at a public hearing at City Hall today to honor the Blazers’ 10th leading scorer in team history. 

Retired by the University of Washington, will be Brandon Roy’s No. 3 jersey tomorrow night at halftime of the Huskies game against USC.

Roy played an integral part in the Huskies compiling a 84-42 record in his four years at Washington, and was a central figure in helping Washington to back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in 2005 and 2006. He also was the first Washington player in over 20 years to average more than 20 points per game and was named the Pac-10’s Player of the Year in 2006.
 
Stumbled in their season openers were both the Portland State men’s and women’s tennis programs.

The women fell to UC Davis 5-2 and Seattle 4-3, while the men struggled at Oregon, losing 7-0. Sophomore Molly Knox led the women’s team, going 2-0 in individual play and 1-1 in doubles action.

The squad will face Idaho and Houston at the LP Tennis Center on the University of Portland this weekend.