Men's Tennis Enters WCC Championships as No. 3 Seed
WCC Championships Central I KGW-TV Feature on UP Men's Tennis (Video) I Coach Gross Mic'd Up (Video)SAN DIEGO, Calif. --- The best Portland men's tennis finish at the West Coast Conference Championships is third-place, most recently in 1999. This year's Pilots are entering the tournament as the No. 3 seed and despite heading to the tournament shorthanded, the squad is confident in a good showing. The tournament begins on Wednesday with the Pilots facing No. 10 Gonzaga at 12:30 p.m. Coverage is available at WCCSports.com.
"It was a great achievement for our team to finish the regular season in third place," Portland head coach and WCC Coach of the Year Aaron Gross said. "With the quality of our conference, plus Pacific joining the league this year, it is quite an achievement for us to finish where we did in the standings. I am sure in a week or two we will all be able to sit back and really appreciate our season, but right now our only goal is to make sure that the next team that we play isn't the one to shut the lights out on this great season that we have had."
Portland concluded the regular season with a 12-8 overall record and 5-4 mark against WCC opponents. Senior Michel Hu Kwo was named to the All-WCC Singles First Team, while junior Reid deLaubenfels earned honorable mention honors. The senior doubles tandem of Alex Ferrero and Ratan Gill earned second team all-league honors, but the Pilots will be without Ferrero who was injured on April 12 in a loss to San Francisco and has not returned to the court since.
"Yes, we are banged up and shorthanded, but our spirit is no different than when we went to LMU and won or pulled off a big win over Santa Clara," Gross noted. "We will play Gonzaga on Wednesday. Our seniors will wake up knowing that day could be the last day of their college tennis careers. I fully expect we will play with the sense of urgency commensurate to that situation."
Portland's four seniors – Ferrero, Gill, Hu Kwo and Justin Guay – have led the Pilots to one of the best regular seasons in program history. The group is hoping to carry that momentum into postseason play.
"We know the reality of winning the WCC Tournament and advancing to the NCAA's is slim, but by the same token we are not going to accept losing until the final point," Gross said. "When we wake up on Wednesday, we will be committed to trying to find a way to get to Thursday. If we can get to Thursday, we will wake up fighting like heck to get to Friday, and so on. I will be sad when this little era in Pilots history ends for this group, but I am fighting even thinking about that at this point. I am hopeful we have much more tennis to play before then."
