HOUSTON, Texas – The Portland men's tennis team competed at the Rice Invitational last weekend to kick off the 2015-16 season. The Pilots had three newcomers get their first taste of collegiate tennis and all three had some success.
True freshmen Felix Fan went 3-1 in the 'B' Draw of singles. After dropping his opening round match, Fan won a pair of consolation matches in straight sets and benefitted from a retirement in the other. Carlos Donat, also competing in the 'B' Draw, opened with a three set victory over Joao Requillme of UT-San Antonio. Julian Zlobinsky of Texas outlasted Donat in a third set tiebreaker in the quarterfinals. He would bounce back to win another consolation match and finish 2-2 in singles on the weekend.
Redshirt freshman walk-on Goutham Sundaram also finished with a 2-2 singles record in the 'C' Draw.
"We played a ton of tennis this weekend, so it isn't easy to sum it up as a group," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Overall, I think we are coming home feeling fairly good about things. We had a very strong last day, where we won six of our eight singles matches and three of four doubles matches. If you had asked me after Friday and Saturday I would have told you that I was fairly disappointed in our results. We seemed to spend most of the first day of the tournament battling the heat and humidity. We had four guys cramp up, with one ending up in the Emergency Room from heat exhaustion. We started to acclimate better on Saturday, but lost a ton of close matches. Sunday we had a mix of being physically stronger than a lot of our competition and it showed in getting over the hump in some very close results.
"With so many young guys, we knew doubles would be challenging this year. The guys have a lot of new stuff being thrown at them at a very early point in the season in a challenging tournament. I think we did okay overall under the circumstances, but when it gets close in the doubles, we have to stay aggressive to beat good teams.
"The freshmen all got some wins, which was nice. Each of the guys came through against some experienced competition. I think they all got to see first-hand how physical college tennis can be. Not just through the heat and conditions, but also the importance of strength for things like serving, getting low on groundstrokes, and speed for digging into the corner. (Assistant Coach) Henry Oldham, who handles most of our team's off-court fitness program, will definitely have more of their attention when we get back going later this week. We need to push harder off the court to find those gains in strength and speed that are required to play at a high level."
A total of 11 teams will competed in the weekend tournament. Joining the Pilots was host Rice, Army, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Nichols State, Texas, Texas Rio Grande Valley, Prairie View, Tulane and UTSA.
Portland will continue the fall tennis season at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional hosted by the University of Washington on Oct. 22-26 in Seattle.
2015 Rice Invitational
Houston, Texas (George R. Brown Tennis Center)
Sept. 18-20
SINGLES
Draw A16 Mathieu Garcia (POR) def. Coby Jansen (UTRGV) 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8)
16 Juan Cruz Soria (UTRGV) def. Pierre Garcia (POR) 6-2, 7-5
16 Constantin Schmitz (TUL) def. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) 1-6, 7-5, 6-2
QF Sebastian Rey (TUL) def. Mathieu Garcia (POR) 6-2, 6-2
C Nikita Lis (LAM) def. Mathieu Garcia (POR) 2-6, 6-4, 10-5
C Mathieu Garcia (POR) def. Josip Smoljan (UIW) 7-6 (4),3-6,10-7
C Pierre Garcia (POR) def. Tito Moreiras (UTSA) 6-1, 6-1
C Pierre Garcia (POR) def. Samuel Lampman (ARMY) 6-4, 6-2
C Michail Pervolarakis (POR) def. Oleksandr Podgursky (NS) 6-1, 6-4
C Nick Naumann (TEX) def. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) 6-4, 6-2
Draw B16 Carlos Donat (POR) def. Joao Requillme (UTSA) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3)
16 David Warren (RICE) def. Felix Fan (POR) 6-3, 6-3
16 Sebastian Mortier (UIW) def. Jared Madison (POR) 6-1, 6-3
QF Julian Zlobinsky (TEX) def. Carlos Donat (POR) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
C Alex Van Cott (TUL) def. Carlos Donat (POR) 7-6 (7-5), 10-8
C Carlos Donat (POR) def. Sebastian Mortier (UIW) 6-2, 6-1
C Felix Fan (POR) def. Grant Riechmann (ARMY) 6-1, 6-3
C Felix Fan (POR) def. Christian Waldron (PVAM) 4-5, ret.
C Felix Fan (POR) def. Evan Karatzas (NS) 6-4, 6-2
C Christian Waldron (PVAM) def. Jared Madison (POR) 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
C Grant Riechmann (ARMY) def. Jared Madison (POR) 6-1, 6-2
Draw C16 David Mitchell (ARMY) def. Goutham Sundaram (POR) 6-4, 6-4
QF Kyle Barnes (ARMY) def. Jamie Fisher (POR) 6-4, 6-1
C Goutham Sundaram (POR) def. Anirudh Yadav (PVAM) 6-1, 6-2
C Juuso Laitinen (LAM) def. Goutham Sundaram (POR) 6-3, 4-6, 11-9
C Goutham Sundaram (POR) def. Ryan Hoverson (UIW) 2-6, 6-4, 10-8
C Ian Van Cott (TU) def. Jamie Fisher (POR) 6-2, 7-5
C Henrik Munch (RICE) def. Jamie Fisher (POR) 6-4, 3-6, 10-7
Draw D16 Elliot Johnstone (UTRGV) def. Ethan Ogard (POR) 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (10-8)
16 William Jou (TEX) def. Kent Andreasen (POR) 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2)
C Manny Llamas (RICE) def. Kent Andreasen (POR) 6-1, 6-2
C Kent Andreasen (POR) def. Ulrick Boyogueno (PVAM) 6-3, 7-6 (5)
DOUBLES
Draw A16 Feucht/Lis (LAM) def. Pervolarakis/Donat (POR) 6-2
16 Naumann/Zlobinsky (TEX) def. Fan/Andreasen (POR) 6-1
C Soria/Jansen (UTRGV) def. Pervolarakis/Donat (POR) 6-3
C Barnes/McCasin (ARMY) def. Pervolarakis/Donat (POR) 6-4
C Fan/Andreasen (POR) def. Waldron/Boyogueno (PVAM) 6-4
C Wezeman/Meessen (NS) def. Fan/Andreasen (POR) 6-4
C Fan/Andreasen (POR) def. Hoverson/Vatanadilok (UIW) 6-4
C Pervolarakis/Donat (POR) def. Avella/Anirudh (PVAM) 6-2
Draw B16 P. Garcia/Sundaram (POR) def. Johnstone/Quintero (UTRGV/PVAM) 6-3
16 Peng/Munch (RICE) def. Ogard/McMullan (POR/LAM) 6-2
16 Best/Mitchell (AWP) def. M. Garcia/Fisher (POR) 6-2
QF Peng/Munch (RICE) def. P. Garcia/Sundaram (POR) 6-3
C Riechmann/Jou (TEX) def. P. Garcia/Sundaram (POR) 6-2
C Avella /Anirudh (PVAM) def. M. Garcia/Fisher (POR) 7-5
C Van Cott/Wagner (TUL) def. M. Garcia/Fisher (POR) 6-4
C M. Garcia/Fisher (POR) def. Peng/ Munch (RICE) 6-3
C Van Cott/Wagner (TUL) def. P. Garcia/Madison (POR) 6-1
C Ogard/McMullan (POR/LAM) def. Johnstone/Quintero (UTRGV/PVAM) 6-2
Â
