IRVINE, Calif. – The Portland women's tennis continued its rigorous spring break schedule with a 4-1 victory over UC Irvine on Sunday morning. It marked the third win in as many days for the Pilots, in three different West Coast cities. Difficult weather conditions, including rain and heavy winds, push the start of the match back an hour in Portland's first outdoor match of the spring season.
Portland opened the weekend with a 6-1 win on Friday at home over BYU and then defeated Boise State on Saturday in Eugene, Ore. by a 4-2 margin.
"This was a very successful weekend for our team," Portland head coach Susie Campbell said. "We played three quality opponents and came out on top in every match. Today was our biggest challenge of the weekend. We had a short turnaround between matches and it was our first outdoor match which made it for a very challenging day. However, we stayed mentally tough and we played some gritty tennis."
The Pilots (4-5, 1-0 WCC) responded to the challenge by taking two of the three doubles matches in a tight battle. Senior Lucia Butkovska and junior Jelena Lazarevic pulled out a comfortable 6-3 win at No. 1, but the Anteaters (1-9) evened the doubles match-up with a win at No. 2. Pilot freshmen Radina Dimitrova and Tatiana Grigoryan then secured the point with a 7-5 win at No. 3.
UC Irvine took the first singles point at the No. 6 position, but the Dimitrova and senior Maja Mladenovic won in straight sets at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Senior Tori Troesch then clinched the match for the Pilots with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Andrea Duva at the No. 5 position.
"These were extremely hard conditions with some of the worst wind I've seen in my twenty plus years of coaching," Campbell noted. "We were fighting for every ball, we made a lot of adjustments and at the end of the day we were a tougher team that wanted it more. We are proud of these girls as they continue give it their all in every match. We will need to continue to work hard to improve on little things especially in doubles."
Portland will remain in Southern California this week and attend the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells as a team before concluding the road trip at UC Santa Barbara (5-5) on Thursday at 12 p.m. All five of the Gauchos losses have come against ranked opposition.
"I am sure that we will be well prepared for the next challenge against UCSB," Campbell said, "especially since we will gain some inspiration from being able to watch the top players in the world compete at Indian Wells."
Portland 4, UC Irvine 1
Irvine, Calif. (UC Irvine Tennis Stadium)
March 5, 2016
Singles 1. Lucia Butkovska (POR) vs. Sarah Gong (UCI) 4-6, 5-4 unfinished
2. Radina Dimitrova (POR) def. Vivien Dvali (UCI) 6-2, 6-2
3. Maja Mladenovic (POR) def. Stephanie Hazell (UCI) 6-2, 6-4
4. Tatiana Grigoryan (POR) vs. Mazy Watrous (UCI) 2-6, 6-1, 5-3 unfinished
5. Tori Troesch (POR) def. Andrea Duva (UCI) 7-6 (4), 6-3
6. Cassidy Branstine (UCI) def. Emily Gould (POR) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles1. Butkovska/Jelena Lazarevic (POR) def. Gong/Hazell (UCI) 6-2
2. Duva/Dvali (UCI) def. Mladenovic/Gould (POR) 6-3
3. Dimitrova/Grigoryan (POR) def. Watrous/Branstine (UCI) 7-5
