Pilots Sweep Seattle in Spring Debut

SEATTLE, Wash. – The Portland men's tennis team opened the 2015 spring season with a 7-0 sweep over the Seattle Redhawks Saturday at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the University of Washington campus. Portland had four true freshmen in the singles lineup and five overall newcomers record their first dual action. The Pilots did not lose a set in the dominating win.

Senior Reid deLaubenfels was the only returner in the singles lineup and anchored the Pilots with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Riley Newman at the No. 1 position.

Graduate transfer Steffen Dierauf debuted with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 2. The future of Portland tennis rounded at the lineup as four true freshmen cut their teeth with convincing straight set wins in the final four spots.

"There were a lot of things in play today that made for maybe a little less than our highest level of tennis, but everyone got tough when they needed to and we got the job done," head coach Aaron Gross said. "College tennis is trying to experiment with shortening matches. They have implemented no-ad scoring which means sudden death in a game when the score is at deuce. Doubles is now first team to win six games, instead of 8, and no warm up with your opponent anymore, which means the match starts the second the first ball is hit.

"The shortening of the format may cause a few more upsets and both teams will be facing these adjustments, but it is tricky when five of our six singles players have never played a regular match, let alone with the new rules. So overall I am happy with how things went today. We didn't drop a set and got through a couple of tricky spots, while staying composed."

Portland will have a quick turnaround before facing a stiff challenge on Sunday against the No. 68 East Tennessee State Buccaneers at 2 p.m. ETSU is 0-3 on the season, but all three losses have come against ranked opponents including a 4-1 loss to No. 63 Washington on Friday. Live video of the match will be provided by gohuskies.com.

"Tomorrow's match will be a good test for us," Gross added. "East Tennessee State is a solid, well-coached team with no obvious weaknesses in their lineup. I think if every one of our guys can play to their potential that we will be in the match and have a shot to win in the end, which is all you can ask."


Portland 7, Seattle 0
Seattle, Wash. (Nordstrom Tennis Center)
Jan. 24, 2015

Doubles
1. Reid deLaubenfels/Steffen Dierauf (POR) def. Riley Newman/Tanner Berkabile (SEA) 6-4
2. Mattieu Garcia/Kent Andreasen (POR) def. Connor Leahy/John Stormans (SEA) 6-4
3. Pierre Garcia/Michail Pervolarakis (POR) vs. Ian Clare/Matt Alderson (SEA) unfinished (5-4)

Singles
1. Reid deLaubenfels (POR) def. Riley Newman (SEA) 6-4, 6-2
2. Steffen Dierauf (POR) def. John Stormans (SEA) 6-2, 6-2
3. Mattieu Garcia (POR) def. Ian Clare (SEA) 7-5, 6-4
4. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) def. Connor Leahy (SEA) 6-4, 6-3
5. Pierre Garcia (POR) def. Tanner Berkabile (SEA) 6-4, 6-1
6. Jared Madison (POR) def. Matt Alderson (SEA) 6-1, 7-5