Portland State Downs Bearcats in Men's Tennis

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- Portland State University and Willamette University played a late-night match at the Courthouse Tennis Center on Tuesday, Feb. 11, as both teams geared up for the start of conference play. The Vikings won several close singles matches on their way to a 7-0 victory over the Bearcats.

PSU competes in NCAA Division I and Willamette is a member of NCAA Division III. The teams used the Division I scoring system (7 team points), which provides one point to the team winning at least two doubles matches, plus one point for each victory in singles. Also, sets that were tied at 5-5 went to tie-breakers.

Willamette fell to 0-2 on the season, with both losses to Division I opponents. Portland State improved to 1-3 overall.

The Vikings built an early 1-0 lead by winning #1 and #3 doubles.

At #1 doubles, Brent Wheeler and Ian Risenhoover defeated Devin Abney (Jr., Shoreline, WA/Shorecrest HS/Univ. of Redlands) and Will Cooper (Sr., Gresham, OR/Centennial HS), 6-1. The #3 doubles match was won by Alec Marx and Nate Chart over WU players Blake Brash (So., Boise, ID/Boise HS) and Shrujan Kalidindi (So., Cupertino, CA/Monta Vista HS), 6-4. No #2 doubles match was played.

The singles matches featured four sets that went to tie-breakers, plus a super tie-breaker instead of a third set at the #6 position.

One match -- the #5 singles battle between Marx of UPS and Brash of WU -- featured two sets that advanced to tie-breakers. Marx prevailed, winning 6-5 (7-2), 6-5 (7-3).

In #4 singles, PSU's Jonathan Pike outlasted Jeff Schreiber (Jr., Solana Beach, CA/The Grauer School), 6-5 (7-0), 6-4. The Vikings also won a close match at #6 singles, as Chart edged out Gunnar Lee (So., Hilo, HI/St. Joseph School), 6-1, 5-6 (5-7), 10-6, in a super tie-breaker after they split the first two sets.

Wheeler won #1 singles over Sam Wexman (So., Tiburon, CA/Tamiscal HS) of Willamette, 6-3, 6-4. The #2 singles match went to Wil Cochrane of PSU, as he defeated Abney, 6-2, 6-3. Risenhoover was victorious for the Vikings at #3 singles over Cooper, 6-3, 6-0.

The match marked the return of former WU head coach Toby Krauel, who coached the Bearcats for four seasons from 2008-09 through 2011-12. Krauel joined the PSU coaching staff this past fall.

Current Willamette Head Coach Rick Wood -- in his second year at WU -- will lead the Bearcats into their Northwest Conference opener on Friday, Feb. 21 against Whitworth University. Match time at the Courthouse Tennis Center is scheduled for 4 p.m. (PST).