SPOKANE, Wash. – The No. 41-ranked Portland Pilots men's tennis team remained unbeaten in West Coast Conference play and ran its win streak to 11 matches with a 4-1 win at Gonzaga on Saturday. The Pilots improved to 15-1 overall and 5-0 in league play, while the Bulldogs dropped to 6-9 and 0-4 in conference.
The Bulldogs were able to steal the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Portland's No. 2 duo of Pierre Garcia and Felix Fan won by a 6-3 margin. Gonzaga's Ronzai Saurombe and Simon Homedes Dualde clinched at No. 3 after overcoming a 5-2 deficit to win 7-5.
"Full credit to Gonzaga in the doubles," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "They played amazing at number one and just kept hanging in there at number three and nipped us at the end. It's a familiar situation that we have faced many times this year in losing the doubles point, but today was a bit different. I feel like with our recent success we are playing a bit not to lose, especially in the doubles."
Portland answered with conviction in singles play as the first four decisions came in straight sets.
No. 100-ranked Michail Pervolarakis made quick work of Ruadhan O'Sullivan at the No. 1 position with a 6-0, 6-3 victory to tie the score.
Junior Mathieu Garcia beat Vincent Rettke 6-3, 6-3 at No. 2 and then Fan knocked off Homedes Dualde 6-1, 6-4 at No. 6.
Sophomore Carlos Donat provided the clinching point for the Pilots with a 6-1, 7-5 victory against Kyle Everly at the No. 5 spot.
Pierre Garcia and Alex Wallace were each battling in their respective third sets when the match was clinched in Portland's favor.
"Mike and Mathieu were awesome today," Gross noted. "For both to beat solid players on the road after dropping the doubles is a testament to their resilience. Right now we just need a day or two to get ourselves healthy and then have a really good week of training to become the best tennis players that we can possibly be as opposed to setting our sights on just winning the next match. I think we learned that lesson today. Luckily it wasn't a painful lesson in a loss, but definitely something that we need to be aware of going on the court in the coming weekends. Just letting ourselves go and playing a little bit more loose and aggressive all the way around."
Portland will continue WCC play next weekend with road matches at Pacific on Friday at 1 p.m. and at Saint Mary's on Saturday at 2 p.m.
"We still have four really good tests left in the WCC regular season," Gross said. "Honestly, if the ball bounces the wrong way a few times we could lose all four of those matches, especially if we drop the doubles point. On the other hand, we could win all four of those matches if we compete to the level that I know we are capable of throughout the entire match."
#41 Portland 4, Gonzaga 1
Spokane, Wash. (Stevens Tennis Center)
April 8, 2017
Singles
1. #100 Michail Pervolarakis (POR) def. Ruadhan O'Sullivan (GON) 6-0, 6-3
2. Mathieu Garcia (POR) def. Vincent Rettke (GON) 6-3, 6-3
3. Pierre Garcia (POR) vs. Sam Feit (GON) 3-6, 6-2, 2-0
4. Alex Wallace (POR) vs. Ronzai Saurombe (GON) 6-3, 3-6, 1-2
5. Carlos Donat (POR) def. Kyle Everly (GON) 6-1, 7-5
6. Felix Fan (POR) def. Simon Homedes Dualde (GON) 6-1, 6-4
Doubles
1. O'Sullivan/Feit (GON) def. Pervolarakis/M. Garcia (POR) 6-2
2. P. Garcia/Fan (POR) def. Rettke/Everly (GON) 6-3
3. Homedes Dualde/Saurombe (GON) def. Donat/Jamie Fisher (POR) 7-5
Match Notes
#41 Portland 15-1, 5-0 WCC
Gonzaga 6-9, 0-4 WCC
Order of Finish: Doubles (1,2,3) Singles (1,2,6,5)
