PORTLAND, Ore. – The No. 64 Portland Pilots cruised to a 5-1 victory over the BYU Cougars in West Coast Conference men's tennis action Saturday at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots improve to 12-5 overall and 5-2 in WCC play with the win.
It marked the final home match for Portland seniors Reid deLaubenfels and Steffen Dierauf, the veterans that have provided solid leadership at the top of the lineup all season.
"Today nearly worked out perfectly for us," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "BYU's No. 1 player spoiled it a bit for Steffen in his last home match, but the guy played really well. Other than that, we really took care of business today."
Portland opened the match by mixing up its doubles lineup, which had been struggling in recent matches. Dierauf teamed with freshman Michail Pervolarakis at No. 1 and they cruised to a 6-0 win. Freshmen Mathieu and Pierre Garcia then clinched the point with a 6-1 win at No. 2.
"Doubles was much better today," Gross noted. "We won some key points early in the matches and cruised to the point."
The Pilots continued to roll into singles play with Pervolarakis winning in straight sets at the No. 3 position. DeLaubenfels then overcame a first set loss to win in three at the No. 2 spot. Dierauf was outlasted in three sets by Francis Sargeant, but the Garcia brothers cruised at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions for the final points.
"The three freshmen were rocks for us as usual," Gross said. "All won in straight sets, with Mathieu Garcia clinching the deciding point. But fittingly, the key match for us was Reid's. He lost the first set and then dug deep to somehow come through in the end as he has done so many times for us over the last couple of years. It was great to see him finish with a win in this building. He has won a lot of key matches in here and hopefully will take away good memories from his success."
The victory over the Cougars (9-16, 3-5 WCC) was the first ever for Coach Gross and the Pilots and keeps the team in contention for second place in the WCC standings.
"BYU has struggled this year and we felt like we would have a good shot today," Gross said. "But when you haven't beaten a team before you don't take one minute to start daydreaming about winning until the final shot is hit. If you had told me before the season that this group of four freshmen and two seniors would equal our WCC win total from last year – including wins against Pepperdine and BYU – I wouldn't have believed it. I want to feel like whatever we do at this point is just gravy, but that would be selling this group short. I think we feel a bit greedy and want more. We will continue with the same mentality that we have had all year – work hard every day to get better and the results will come."
Portland will conclude the regular season with a Bay Area road trip next weekend. The Pilots visit San Francisco on Saturday at 1 p.m. and then Santa Clara on Sunday at noon. The WCC Championships are scheduled for April 22-25 in San Diego.
#64 Portland 5, BYU 1
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center)
April 11, 2015
Singles1. Francis Sargeant (BYU) def. Steffen Dierauf (POR) 4-6, 7-6, 6-4
2. Reid deLaubenfels (POR) def. Shane Monroe (BYU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) def. Jacob Sullivan (BYU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Mathieu Garcia (POR) def. Jeremy Bourgeois (BYU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Pierre Garcia (POR) def. Juan Canales (BYU) 6-0, 6-1
6. Jared Madison (POR) vs. Aidan Carrazedo (BYU) 4-6, unfinished
Doubles1. Dierauf/Pervolarakis (POR) def. Sargeant/Monroe (BYU) 6-0
2. Garcia, M./Garcia P. (POR) def. Sullivan/Bourgeois (BYU) 6-1
3. Fisher/deLaubenfels (POR) vs. Ball/Carrazedo (BYU) 3-4, unfinished
