GOLD RIVER, Calif. – The Portland men's tennis team defeated a quality UT Arlington squad by a 4-2 margin late Saturday night in the second match of the Golden State Invitational hosted at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center. Portland advances to the tournament championship and will face No. 73 UC Davis on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
The Pilots (9-4) have now won four straight and eight of nine total matches this spring.
"Tonight was a street fight and we came out on top," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "I'm proud of how our guys competed and composed themselves. UT Arlington is a good team and, diplomatically speaking, plays with a lot of fire. I felt like we were able to keep the integrity of how I like our guys to represent our school and still get a little gritty and dirty to get through a very difficult match."
Portland started the scoring with an impressive doubles performance against the Mavericks (11-6). Sophomores Michail Pervolarakis and Mathieu Garcia posted a 6-3 win at No. 1 doubles and then sophomore Alex Wallace and senior Kent Andreasen teamed up for a 6-3 clinching win over the No. 61-ranked tandem of Daniel Armengol and Jhonathan Gonzalez at the No. 2 spot.
The momentum carried over to singles play where Pervolarakis and Pierre Garcia each won in straight sets to put the Pilots ahead 3-0.
Gonzalez and Carlos Arbiza then pulled out three set victories at the No. 2 and No. 4 positions to make it a 3-2 score, but Pilot freshman Felix Fan would clinch the match with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Armengol at No. 5 singles.
"Michail and Pierre played clean, solid matches," Gross noted. "UTA made a run with a couple of hard fought three set match victories, but Felix showed amazing toughness in closing out the match for us against a very good senior player to earn us a victory at 10:30 p.m. This one did feel good to get through. The teams were evenly matched and playing on a neutral court, so it did not necessarily provide either team an edge. I felt like we had to be mentally tough and really focus on the task at hand, as opposed to the million distractions going on around us, and we did that well.
"We switched up doubles teams a bit today, which proved to be key. Mathieu and Michail got back on the winning track at No. 1. The surprise team of Wallace and Andreasen came through big at No. 2 against a ranked team. Kent has been working so hard and it was really nice to see him play a solid match from first point to last point. He is a huge part of our success this spring with his leadership and commitment and that was really big for that to be rewarded for him and our team tonight."
Portland 4, UT Arlington 2
Gold River, Calif. (Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center)
March 12, 2016
Singles1. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) def. Guanarteme Nuez (UTA) 6-4, 6-2
2. Jhonathan Gonzalez (UTA) def. Mathieu Garcia (POR) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
3. Pierre Garcia (POR) def. Mario Muniesa (UTA) 6-2, 6-2
4. Carlos Arbiza (UTA) def. Alex Wallace (POR) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Felix Fan (POR) def. Daniel Armengol (UTA) 7-5, 6-2
6. Carlos Donat (POR) vs. Pablo Colvee (UTA) 6-7, 6-1, unfinished
Doubles1. Pervolarakis/M. Garcia (POR) def. Arbiza/Mauricio Del Rio (UTA) 6-3
2. Kent Andreasen/Wallace (POR) def. #61 Armengol/Gonzalez (UTA) 6-3
3. P. Garcia/Fan (POR) vs. Muniesa/Nuez (UTA) 5-2, unfinished
