CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Portland men's tennis team dropped a hard-fought 4-2 match to the San Diego Toreros in the semifinals of the 2017 West Coast Conference Championships, held at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center. Portland concludes the spring dual season with an 18-3 overall record, while the Toreros improve to 16-10 and advance to face Pepperdine in the finals on Saturday afternoon.
The Pilots conclude a phenomenal season that included the first WCC regular season title in program, WCC Coach of the Year honors for Aaron Gross, and Michail Pervolarakis becoming the first Pilot to be named WCC Player of the Year.
Portland had defeated San Diego earlier this season at home for the first win over the Toreros in Pilot history, but San Diego was able to pull out the victory outdoors on Friday.
"I guess the saying that you can't win them all is apropos today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "We have won so many of these types of matches throughout the last few months and it felt like we were going to get through again today, but then it just slipped away towards the end and the better team on the day ended up winning."
Portland gained the early momentum by taking the doubles point. Carlos Donat and Jamie Fisher defeated Guus Koevermans and Pratt Keerasuntoi by a 6-3 margin at No. 3 and then the due of Mathieu Garcia and Felix Fan clinched with a 7-5 victory against Guilherme Osorio and Joel Gamerov at the No. 2 position.
"The positives were that we finally played good doubles," Gross said. "I think we are so used to being down 1-0 going into the singles that it was almost kind of uncomfortable having that little edge today. We had several positions that we had an edge throughout the day and then it just got reversed."
San Diego tied the team score with a win in straight sets by Josh Page at No. 3 singles. Donat then quickly dispatched Gamerov at No. 5 singles to give Portland a 2-1 lead.
No. 94-ranked Filip Vittek recorded a win over Pervolarakis at No. 1 singles to tie the team score at 2-2. Portland was up a set in the final three remaining matches, but the Toreros battled back on each court to push all three to third sets.
Koevermans and Alex Araouzos pulled out the victories at the No. 4 and No. 6 positions within minutes of each other to complete the comeback and give the Toreros the team win. Portland's Mathieu Garcia was leading Guilherme Osorio 4-1 in the third set at the No. 2 position when the match was clinched.
"Over the entire conference season we proved we were the best team," noted Gross. "Over this three-day event San Diego was better than us. I would not trade winning this tournament for winning the regular season for anything. I think the long grind of the regular season and the consistency that we showed is something of which I am very proud. Again, taking nothing away from San Diego, they were the better team on the day."
An automatic bid to the 2017 NCAA Championships will go to the winner of the Pepperdine versus San Diego match. The complete 64-team field will be announced on Tuesday, May 2 at 2 p.m. (PT).
San Diego 4, #46 Portland 2
Claremont, Calif. (Biszantz Family Tennis Center)
April 28, 2017
Singles
1. #94 Filip Vittek (USD) def. Michail Pervolarakis (POR) 6-4, 6-3
2. Mathieu Garcia (POR) vs. Guilherme Osorio (USD) 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 4-1, unfinished
3. Josh Page (USD) def. Pierre Garcia (POR) 6-0, 6-2
4. Guus Koevermans (USD) def. Alex Wallace (POR) 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-1
5. Carlos Donat (POR) def. Joel Gamerov (USD) 6-0, 6-3
6. Alex Araouzos (USD) def. Felix Fan (POR) 6-7 (4-7), 6-0, 6-2
Doubles
1. Pervolarakis/Wallace (POR) vs. Vittek/Page (USD) 6-5, unfinished
2. M. Garcia/Fan (POR) def. Osorio/Gamerov (USD) 7-5
3. Jamie Fisher/Donat (POR) def. Koevermans/Pratt Keerasuntoi (USD) 6-3
Match Notes:
San Diego 16-10
Portland 18-3; National ranking #46
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (3,5,1,4,6)
WCC Championships Semifinals
