Year two: much better

While most students at Portland State likely spent their Spring Break working, vacationing or just plain relaxing, the men’s tennis team, fittingly, was using the break away from school to establish a tradition that has eluded the team for most of their season: winning tennis matches.

During the week, the Vikings—playing in just their second season since being reinstated and their first under new head coach Brian Parrott—took to the court for five total matches, three of which came in Portland. During that time the Vikings managed an improved record of 2-3, with defeats of Air Force and Green River Community College.

The two victories improved the squad’s record to 9-10 for 2009, a dramatic improvement from the 5-17 mark that they posted just one season ago. The squad also defeated Grand Canyon in Glendale, Ariz., on March 20, and has now won six of its last nine matches.

But the break did not produce all the positive results that it could have as the Vikings started off the week with back-to-back losses on March 21 and 22 against Northern Arizona and Scottsdale Community College, respectively. Facing one of the tougher teams in the Big Sky Conference, the young Portland State squad stumbled to a 7-0 defeat against Northern Arizona.

Following their weekend trip to Arizona, the Vikings returned home for the final three home matches of the season and earned a solid victory against Air Force, 4-3.

“The Air Force win was a good win, an exciting win,” said Portland State head coach Brian Parrott.?The busy break also featured a match with visiting Idaho that saw Portland State fall 5-2, despite picking up solid performances from No.1 player Chris Rice and the team taking two of the three doubles matches.

With the dramatic improvement that the team has shown this year, the Vikings have shown that their youth and inexperience may only hide the team’s potential. Since a loss to Montana on Feb. 28, the Vikings have played surprisingly well and posted victories over Utah State, Seattle and now Air Force, among others.

The recent success has also served as motivation as the team works toward a goal that seemed unreachable just one season ago: the Big Sky Championships. If the Vikings can manage a victory in one of their final Big Sky Matches—Montana State and Eastern Washington remain on the schedule—they will clinch one of the higher seeds for the championships, scheduled to be played in Sacramento, Calif., on April 24 and 25.

Both matches will come on the road, where the Vikings have struggled, winning only two matches thus far this season. Nevertheless, Parrott says the team realizes the opportunity that they have and wants to demonstrate how far they have come in such a short time.

“That would be the first time ever that Portland State has been in the Big Sky Championships, and it would definitely be big step for our program,” Parrott said.