SEATTLE, Wash. – The Portland Pilots men’s tennis team, led by the solid play of veteran Filip Zivkovic and sparked by freshman Jackson Martin, battled to a narrow 4-3 loss against UC Irvine at the Nordstrom Tennis Center at the University of Washington Friday evening.
The Pilots won the doubles point with victories in the No. 1 and 3 spots. The No. 32 ranked Zivkovic and senior Evan Schleining claimed an 8-4 victory over Anteater’s Khunpol Issara and Zac Tsai. Sophomore Geoff Hernandez and freshman Mike Pigou handed an 8-5 defeat to Jon Kazarian and Shimpei Suzuki.
Then in singles action, Zivkovic and Martin won in the No.1 and No. 6 positions respectively. The Pilots fell at the No. 3 and 4 spots setting up the decisive match at the No. 2 position between Portland junior Bryan Thorp and UCI’s Sam Gould. The two pushed the match to the limit taking it to three sets ultimately in UCI’s favor.
“It was a good match to see where we are at,” said head coach Aaron Gross.”The 3-4 result is a significant improvement to last season’s 6-1 loss at UC Irvine. UCI is a sound team and it was a good effort on our side.”
Portland now returns home to face Portland State on Friday, Jan. 29 at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center.
UC Irvine 4, Portland 3
Seattle, Wash. (Nordstrom Tennis Center)
January 22, 2010
Singles
1. Filip Zivkovic (UP) def. Fabian Matthews (UCI): 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
2. Sam Gould (UCI) def. Bryan Thorp (UP): 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. Shimpei Suzuki (UCI) def. Geoff Hernandez (UP): score unavailable
4. Zac Tsai (UCI) def. Evan Schleining (UP): score unavailable
5. Steven Henderson (UCI) def. Daniel Coelho (UP): 6-3, 7-6
6. Jackson Martin (UP) def. Stephen Stege (UCI): 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
1. Zivkovic/Schleining (UP) def. Issara/Tsai (UCI): 8-4
2. Gould/Henderson (UCI) def. Thorp/Coelho (UP):8-3
3. Hernandez/Pigou (UP) def. Kazarian/Suzuki (UCI): 8-5
