The Portland State women’s tennis team hasn’t had the best of seasons in 2012. The team has a 2-11 overall record and has yet to win a conference game after five attempts. However, the Vikings have a chance to snap their four-game losing streak and set a winning tone going into their remaining conference game when they take on Linfield at home on Sunday.
The Portland State women’s tennis team hasn’t had the best of seasons in 2012. The team has a 2-11 overall record and has yet to win a conference game after five attempts. However, the Vikings have a chance to snap their four-game losing streak and set a winning tone going into their remaining conference game when they take on Linfield at home on Sunday.
“We always expect the best from our opponents,” head coach Jay Sterling said. “We expect Linfield to put up a good fight and a good match. I think it will be a good weekend for us to get back on the right track and work on things we need to do to get on the winning path again.”
Doing well against Linfield might depend on the team’s performance in doubles competition. The teams play three doubles matches and the team that wins at least two matches gets the doubles point. Sterling feels that consistency in doubles games has been a trouble spot for the Vikings.
“Doubles has been an Achilles’ heel for us this year,” Sterling said. “We are 9-30 overall in doubles; that’s [a] 30 percent win percentage. We have to find some pairings that can work and bring consistency of play.”
The Vikings have had an uneven set of results this year. In the middle of a month-long losing streak in February, the women won a lopsided 7-0 victory over Montana State, Billings. The next day they got a 0-7 drubbing from sister college Montana State.
“If you look at our matches from week to week, we got some girls who play and compete really well and next week they don’t,” Sterling said. “It’s the lack of consistency that’s been frustrating. We are addressing that seriously this week.”
With a 0-5 record in the Big Sky Conference in 2012, Portland State is at the bottom of the conference table. With only three conference matches left to play, the Vikings are unlikely to qualify for the Big Sky tournament. The top four teams in the table make the playoffs and four Big Sky teams already have three more conference wins this year. However, this will not deter the Vikings from giving their best in the upcoming matches.
“We are hungry for a conference win,” Sterling said. ”We left at least two conference wins on the table. We were the better team and we had opportunities to take the win and we didn’t do it.”
The team will welcome freshman Ashley Spencer back into the lineup. This year, Portland State had to cope with more than its share of suspensions and injuries. As a result, its players had to play one or two levels above their usual spot in the singles lines.
“We have Ashley Spencer back in our lineup, which will give us more depth and allow us to play some stronger doubles,” Sterling said. “She is a two-time state doubles champion and an incredible doubles player. Its hurt us not having her in the lineup, in singles and in doubles.”
Going forward, Portland State will hope to learn from their experience and get some wins under their belt.
“I am not super happy [with this season’s results],” Sterling said. “We are a stronger team than we have played. We had opportunities but we haven’t capitalized. But we are a young program and we have a lot of freshmen on our team. A little bit of that is expected, but it’s certainly no excuse.
“We have some talent on the team and the ability to do play better than we have. Its just the lack of consistency from player to player each week,” Sterling added. “If each player plays to her ability, we will have a better record than we have. I expect us to win some conference matches after spring break.”
