PROVO, Utah – The No. 58 BYU Cougars held on for a 5-2 victory over the No. 72 Portland Pilots in West Coast Conference men's tennis action Friday night at the BYU Indoor Tennis Courts. BYU improves to 10-1 overall and 1-0 in WCC play, while the Pilots fall to 5-4 overall and 1-1 in league play.

The Cougars took the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions and then secured the first two singles matches with wins at No. 1 and No. 3.

Portland sophomore Alex Wallace recorded the first Pilot point with a 7-6, 5-4 win over Jacob Sullivan at No. 4. Sophomore Mathieu Garcia then came back for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 2 to make it a 3-2 deficit.

BYU secured the match at the No. 6 position as John Pearce defeated Jared Madison 6-2, 6-2 and then scored the last point at the No. 5 spot.

"Full credit to BYU, they are a very good team," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "They are coming off of a couple of exceptional wins and playing with a lot of confidence. All that being said, I feel like the conditions are so difficult in Provo that I think that this is a team that if we play at home we could probably win by the same scores that we lost by today. I imagine they probably felt the same way last year when they lost to us in Portland. I thought our guys did a pretty good job of adjusting to the conditions, but it is one of the most difficult places in the country to play. We just could not raise our level quite high enough.

"Alex Wallace and Mathieu Garcia had very nice nights. Both of them got through tight matches against good opponents. I think this match was a really good experience for us. They had an awesome crowd out which made for a really exciting atmosphere. It really tested our mental and physical toughness with the conditions the way they were. I really don't want to come off as using the altitude as an excuse. Every WCC team has a nice little home court advantage and all of us try to take full of advantage of it. I like that we will basically bring the same exact group back here two years from now and maybe will feel a little bit more prepared for what is to come at that point because of tonight's experience."

Portland will return home to host Northern Colorado on Sunday at 11 a.m. Live stats and live video will be provided courtesy of PortlandPilots.com.

#58 BYU 5, #72 Portland 2
Provo, Utah (BYU Indoor Tennis Courts)
February 26, 2016


Singles
1. MONROE, Shane (BYU) def. PERVOLARAKIS, Mike (POR) 6-4, 6-4
2. GARCIA, Mathieu (POR) def. CULLIMORE, Keaton (BYU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. GORYACHKOV, Andrey (BYU) def. GARCIA, Pierre (POR) 6-4, 6-4
4. WALLACE, Alex (POR) def. SULLIVAN, Jacob (BYU) 7-6, 6-4
5. BOURGEOIS, Jeremy (BYU) def. FAN, Felix (POR) 6-3, 6-2
6. PEARCE, John (BYU) def. MADISON, Jared (POR) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles
1. BOURGEOIS, Jeremy/CARRAZEDO, Aidan (BYU) vs. GARCIA, Mathieu/PERVOLARAKIS, Mike (POR) 4-5, unfinished
2. GORYACHKOV, Andrey/CULLIMORE, Keaton (BYU) def. WALLACE, Alex/GARCIA, Pierre (POR) 6-4
3. PEARCE, John/SULLIVAN, Jacob (BYU) def. FAN, Felix/ANDREASEN, Kent (POR) 6-3

Match Notes:
Portland 5-4, 1-1 WCC; National ranking #72
BYU 10-1, 1-0 WCC; National ranking #58