SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The No. 53 Portland women's tennis team swept the Loyola Marymount Lions 4-0 in a West Coast Conference quarterfinals match Thursday morning at the Barnes Tennis Center. The No. 2-seeded Pilots advance to the WCC semifinals for just the fourth time in program history and first since 2002.

Portland will next take on No. 3 seed and No. 64-ranked San Francisco on Friday at 10 a.m. The Dons swept No. 6 Gonzaga 4-0 on Thursday.

"It definitely feels good to come out and take care of business the way we did today," Portland head coach Susie Campbell-Gross said. "We played some of our best tennis in singles and never gave LMU an opportunity to be in the match. It's been awhile since we were in the semifinals of the conference tournament and it is a good feeling."

The Pilots (16-5) opened the scoring by claiming the doubles point in dramatic fashion. Lucia Butkovska and Jelena Lazarevic cruised to an 8-4 win at No. 1 doubles, but LMU evened it with a win at No. 3. Maja Mladenovic and Sophie van den Aarssen clinched the point with a tiebreak win at the No. 2 spot.

Portland then controlled singles play from start-to-finish. Mladenovic defeated Andrea Crespo 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 to give the Pilots a 2-0 lead. Tori Troesch followed with a 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6 and then van den Aarssen provided the clinching point with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3.

Butkovska was up a set at No. 1 and Saroop Dhatt had a set lead at No. 6 when the match was clinched.

Portland will now look to reach the WCC finals for the first time in program history. The Pilots also reached the semifinals in 1998, 2001 and 2002.

"We feel very confident going into the match against San Francisco tomorrow," Campbell-Gross said. "They are a good team but I believe that we match up with them well at all spots. We had a nail-biter earlier in the year and we know that it is going to come down to the little things tomorrow. We know what we need to do, we understand the opportunity that presents itself and we will go out tomorrow and give everything we have and hope that things go our way."

#53 Portland 4, LMU 0
San Diego, Calif. (Barnes Tennis Center)
April 23, 2015

Singles
1. #101 Lucia Butkovska (POR) vs. Jessica Perez (LMU) 6-1, 5-3, unfinished
2. Maja Mladenovic (POR) def. Andrea Crespo (LMU) 6-2, 6-0
3. Sophie van den Aarssen (POR) def. Anna Romeka (LMU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Jelena Lazarevic (POR) vs.  Kristine Kouyoumjian (LMU) 6-7 (1), 4-0, unfinished
5. Saroop Dhatt (POR) vs. Elanor Grossman (LMU) 7-6, unfinished
6. Tori Troesch (POR) def. Julia Norlin (LMU) 6-0, 6-3

Doubles
1. Butkovska/Lazarevic (POR) def. Piller/Grossman (LMU) 8-4
2. Mladenovic/van den Aarssen (POR) def. Perez/Romeka (LMU) 8-7 (3)
3. Norlin/Crespo (LMU) def. Troesch/Amanda Zuidema (POR) 8-4

Order of Finish: Doubles (1,3,2) Singles (2,6,3)