ITA Men's Team Rankings (Feb. 23)

SKILLMAN, N.J. – The Portland men's tennis team made its first appearance in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Rankings this week. The Pilots came in tied at No. 72 in the nation following a win over then-No. 73 Fresno State on Sunday. Portland has won four straight matches and is 5-3 overall this season.

Most impressive about the feat is that the Pilots have just one senior on this year's roster, while every player that has played a dual singles match has been either a freshman or sophomore. Despite missing top player Michail Pervolarakis on Sunday, Portland cruised to a comfortable 5-2 win over the Bulldogs.

The Pilots have earned national rankings in four of the last six seasons, and six of the last 12 years under Gross.
 
"It's always nice to get some credit for the work you put in," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Our guys have worked hard to get better since the first day of practice in the fall and we have some quality results to show for it. Beating Fresno State was nice and helped earn us a ranking. A few points here or there against Washington and Cal Poly could have put us in a really good position as far as ranking goes. I don't think having a ranking really changes our 'next match is the most important match' motto that we try to adhere to during the season, but it's always nice to be recognized."

Portland will face another tough test on Friday, returning to West Coast Conference action with a road match at No. 58 BYU. The Cougars (9-1) lone loss of the year came against current No. 40-ranked Denver. The match is scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. (PT) start and will have live stats. The Pilots are 1-0 in league play after defeating Gonzaga, while this will be BYU's conference opener.
 
"Every team in the WCC presents unique challenges when it comes to playing on their home courts," Gross noted. "The challenge of playing BYU in Provo is something that every team in the WCC feels. I think to be a great team you have to really thrive on taking on those type of challenges – whether they result in a win or not. That is the approach that we take into all of the challenging situations we go into. You try to not spend time dwelling on the uncomfortableness of those situations and instead spend your energy focusing on solutions to help give you the best chance to be successful.

"Even when a team is playing at home there can be discomfort when you get to those handful of key moments in a match. No player or team is above struggling in those moments. Our challenge is to make sure we create enough of those moments for other teams in every difficult situation that we face. Then when we get to those moments – trust that the discipline that we try and bring to practice every day will be there for us to give us a good shot at success."

Following the BYU match, Portland will return to the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center to host Northern Colorado (2-5) on Sunday at 11 a.m. The match will have live stats and live video.