Men's Tennis Knocks off No. 68 ETSU for Weekend Sweep

SEATTLE, Wash. – The Portland men's tennis team followed up Saturday's sweep of Seattle with a 4-3 win over No. 68 East Tennessee State on Sunday to get a weekend sweep at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the University of Washington campus.

The Buccaneers (1-4), who defeated Wisconsin on Saturday and have lost to three other ranked opponents, provided a stiff test for a young and inexperienced Portland roster.

The challenge was made even tougher after ETSU clinched the doubles point, but the Pilots responded by winning four of the six singles matches, including three by freshmen.

But it was senior Steffen Dierauf, a graduate transfer from Germany, who clinched the match with a three-set victory over Rogerio Ribeiro at the No. 2 position. He won by a score of 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to trigger the celebration.

"This was a huge win for our young team today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "It was a major test after we had lost a very close doubles point. We aren't playing great doubles so I was happy to be in the match at the end of the doubles point, but we just couldn't quite get over the hump."

Dierauf and senior Reid deLaubenfels won No. 1 doubles 6-4, but ETSU bounced back to win both the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles in tiebreakers to clinch the point.

"I didn't know how our young team would respond, but they fought so hard today," Gross continued. "It showed me a lot of what may be a very special group of guys going forward for us."

Freshmen Mathieu Garcia and Michail Pervolarakis cruised to straight set wins at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, respectively, to put the Pilots up 2-1. The other four matches all went three sets as deLaubenfels pushed No. 85 David Biosca at the No. 1 position before coming up short.

Freshman Jared Madison then made it 3-2 Pilots with a three-set win at the No. 6 position, but ETSU tied it up with a victory at No. 5. That set up Dierauf's clinching match.

"In the end it was one of our two seniors that came up big in a tight third set to clinch it for us," Gross added. "I am really proud of our effort today. I think we showed amazing character and I look forward to getting back on court Tuesday and see if we can continue to improve from this experience. We had a fairly easy time with Seattle yesterday, but I knew today was going to be a much tougher test against a solid, ranked team.

"ETSU was coming off of a big win over Wisconsin yesterday and you're never sure how young players are going to react to pressure situations. Today we saw a great example of how true competitors handle those kinds of situations. I know it's not a given that this will be an everyday occurrence, but it sure is great to see what the potential could be."

Portland will next take the court against crosstown rival Portland State on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 5:30 p.m. The match will be hosted at the West Hills Racquet Club.

Portland 4, East Tennessee State 3
Seattle, Wash. (Nordstrom Tennis Center)
Jan. 25, 2015

Doubles
1. Reid deLaubenfels/Steffen Dierauf (POR) def. Ismael Merino/Diego Nunez (ETSU) 6-4
2. Rogerio Ribeiro/David Biosca (ETSU) def. Mathieu Garcia/Kent Andreasen (POR) 7-6
3. Pierre Garcia/Michail Pervolarakis (POR) vs. Ricardo Pabon/Conner Huertas (ETSU) 7-6

Singles
1. #85 David Biosca (ETSU) def. Reid deLaubenfels (POR) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
2. Steffen Dierauf (POR) def. Rogerio Ribeiro (ETSU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
3. Mathieu Garcia (POR) def. Diego Nunez (ETSU) 6-1, 7-6
4. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) def. Conner Huertas (ETSU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Ismael Merino (ETSU) def. Pierre Garcia (POR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Jared Madison (POR) def. Ricardo Pabon (ETSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-1