The University of Portland men’s tennis team (12-3, 3-0 WCC) edged No. 73 Oregon (7-9, 0-1 Pac-10) 4-3 Wednesday afternoon at the Student Tennis Center in Eugene, Ore. Portland’s Colby Jager, playing in the No. 6 singles position, clinched the match for the Pilots after gutting out a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Oregon’s Eric Pickard. Jager was trailing by multiple set points in the second, but recovered in time to record his 10th singles victory of the season.

“This is a huge win for us,” Portland head coach Aaron Gross said after seeing his team defeat Oregon for the first time in his coaching career. “To beat them in their building in a close match really says a lot about our team’s character.”

The Pilots, perhaps motivated by being omitted from the ITA rankings for the first time since early February, started off the match by winning the doubles point. Matthew Loucks and James Redpath scored an 8-6 victory in the No. 1 position, while Scott Kennel and Roman Borvanov defeated their opponents 8-5.

Splitting the six singles matches was all Portland needed to give it the match. In addition to Jager’s heroics in the No. 6 position, the Pilots also received a straight-set victory from Roman Borvanov in the No. 2 position and a three-set win from James Redpath in the No. 3 position.

“It was a total team effort,” Gross said. “Oregon has always been kind of a benchmark team for us, and we always have that match circled on our calendar. Some of our alumni will be very proud of this group tonight.”

Portland’s victory improves its record against ranked opponents to 2-3 this season.

The Pilots will return to the court a week from Friday, as their next action comes on April 1 at the University of the Pacific (6-5, 2-1 Big West). The match is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the Hal Nelson Tennis Courts in Stockton, Calif.