The Portland State men's tennis team notched a significant victory on Sunday, with a merciless 7-0 shutdown against Eastern Washington at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center, marking their first conference win of the season. According to Portland State Athletics, the Vikings propelled their record to an even 4-4 (1-1 BSC), while the Eagles' wings remained clipped at a winless 0-7 (0-1 BSC).
The dominance displayed by Portland State echoed their 2018 performance, where they last swept a Big Sky opponent with the same score against North Dakota. The Eagles, despite a few moments of resistance, were swept aside as the Vikings eyed further ascension in conference standings. On their descent to 0-7, Eastern Washington put up a tougher fight the previous day against the University of Portland but still came up short, as reported by Eastern Washington Athletics.
Meanwhile, the Portland Pilots soared to victory on Saturday at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center by mirroring their Big Sky counterpart's 7-0 sweep against Eastern Washington. The Pilots set the pace with their No. 1 duo claiming an assertive win in doubles, followed by an unyielding advance through the singles matches, where the No. 3 player for Portland recorded a particularly commanding score against his Eastern Washington counterpart, as noted by Portland Pilots Athletics.
Eastern Washington did garner a beam of hope during their encounter with Portland State, with Caden Kammerer and Tyler Dalos snagging a victory in the No. 1 doubles match, but such highlights were sparse. "Drew Dillon won his opening set against Luka Jovanvich, 6-2. He dropped the second 6-3, and the two went to a third set," detailed the Eagles' Athletics department. However, even Dillon's efforts were in vain, as he narrowly missed the mark in a grueling 12-10 final set tiebreaker, a testament to Eastern's weekend long struggle.
As the tennis balls cease their bouncing on the courts for the weekend, Portland State and the University of Portland emerged as the victors in this back-to-back tennis tussle, with Portland State breaking even and the Pilots soaring on their own competitive momentum. Eastern Washington, bruised but unbowed, will have to regroup and restrategize if they aim to recapture some of the elusive success for the remainder of the season.
