Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Portland State
Wildcats Pull Out Win over Vikings
2/20/2011 9:46:00 PM | Men's Tennis
OGDEN, Utah -- The Weber State men's tennis team earned a crucial Big Sky Conference victory on Sunday, pulling out a 4-3 win over Portland State at the Ogden Athletic Club.
The Wildcats entered the match without their No. 1 player in Simon Unger, who was sitting out the match due to a suspension for violation of team rules. WSU persevered despite having each player move up one spot in singles from his normal position as they got key wins from Ciao Poitena, Dave Hintze and Oliver Good in singles.
"This was a really big match for us and I'm really proud of the effort that we got from all our guys today," said WSU head coach Jared Burnham. "It was a crazy match. Ciao (Poitena) really stepped up for us in a pressure situation."
Weber State picked up what turned out to be the deciding point early, with wins in the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches. Landon Barlow teamed up with Hintze in the No. 2 spot to defeat Alex VanDerschelden and Mitch Somach 8-6. Good and Anthony Trabert also took their match with an 8-6 score, winning in the No. 3 match over Vetu Mam and Jeff Cero.
In singles play, the Wildcats got the split of the six matches that they needed to earn the 4-3 win. Good put the Wildcats up 2-0 as he easily finished off Matt Erickson 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 5 spot, but Portland State cut the lead back to a single point as Mam defeated WSU's Ben Rode 6-1, 6-2 at No. 6. VanDerschelden then drew the Vikings into a 2-2 tie with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Peter Ramstromer Pello at No. 2.
Hintze put the Wildcats back ahead by a point with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Roman Margoulis at No. 4, moving Weber State within a point of clinching with two matches still on the courts.
At No. 1, Landon Barlow took the opening set 6-2, but Chris Rice came back with 7-5 wins in the second and third sets to tie the overall match at 3-3, putting it in the hands of Poitena at No. 3.
The freshman from Santos, Brazil fell behind PSU's Mitch Somach with a 6-1 loss in the opening set, but Poitena rallied with a 7-6 win in the second to send the match to a third set. Twice in the second set, Poitena faced match points to Somach, but saved each one to send the set into a tiebreaker. He then fell behind 5-1 in the tiebreaker before making a run to win.
Poitena earned his match win, and clinched the overall match for the Wildcats, with another tight 7-6 come-from-behind win in the deciding set. Poitena again fell behind in a tiebreaker, this time 5-2, but again he rallied, winning the tiebreak 8-6.
The Wildcats improved to 2-7 on the season and 1-1 in Big Sky play, while the Vikings fell to 3-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play. WSU will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 25 against Eastern Washington. The match against the Eagles is scheduled for Noon at the Ogden Athletic Club.
Portland State vs Weber State
Feb 20, 2011 at Ogden, UT (Ogden Athletic Club)
Weber State 4, Portland State 3
Singles competition
1. Chris Rice (PSU) def. Landon Barlow (WSU) 2-6, 7-5, 7-5
2. Alex VanDerschelden (PSU) def. P. Ramstromer Pello (WSU) 6-3, 6-2
3. Ciao Poitena (WSU) def. Mitch Somach (PSU) 1-6, 7-6, 7-6
4. Dave Hintze (WSU) def. Roman Margoulis (PSU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Oliver Good (WSU) def. Matt Erickson (PSU) 6-1, 6-0
6. Vetu Mam (PSU) def. Ben Rode (WSU) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. Chris Rice/Roman Margoulis (PSU) def. P. Ramstromer Pello/Ciao Poitena (WSU) 8-5
2. Landon Barlow/Dave Hintze (WSU) def. Alex VanDerschelden/Mitch Somach (PSU) 8-6
3. Oliver Good/Anthony Trabert (WSU) def. Vetu Mam/Jeff Cero (PSU) 8-6
Match Notes:
Portland State 3-5; 0-2 BSC
Weber State 2-7; 1-1 BSC
Players Mentioned
