The Portland State women’s tennis team will travel to California for a crucial regular-season finale against first-place Sacramento State on Saturday, April 18.
This match is important as the Vikings, with a record of 7-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big Sky Conference, need to finish in the top six of the conference standings to qualify for the tournament scheduled for April 23-25. They are currently tied for sixth place with Montana State, but Montana State holds the tiebreaker. The Vikings must win their upcoming match and hope that either Idaho or Montana State loses to secure a postseason spot.
Last weekend, Portland State split its road matches. They achieved a close 4-3 victory over Weber State—marking their first-ever road win in that series—before falling to Idaho State by a score of 5-2. In their win over Weber State, Portland State claimed the doubles point and singles victories from Scarlett Perkins at No.1, Kasumi Hirayama at No.5, and Hana Abdelhamid who clinched at No.4.
Marta Giglio leads Portland State this season with ten wins each in singles (10-4) and doubles (10-3). Hirayama follows closely with nine singles wins and is on a three-match winning streak at line five. The doubles pair of Giglio and Abdelhamid has an impressive record of eight wins out of ten matches played together.
Historically, Portland State has only beaten Sacramento State three times—all at home within the last decade—and has lost all encounters over the past two seasons by sweeps. Sacramento State was picked first in this year’s preseason coaches’ poll and has already secured at least a share of the regular-season title after spending eight weeks ranked by ITA, peaking at number fifty on February 24.
The Hornets will play UC Davis before hosting Portland State on Saturday.
