EUGENE, Ore. – Georgia State held on for a 4-3 win over the Portland Pilots in a tightly contested men's tennis non-conference match Saturday afternoon at the Student Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Oregon. It was the spring dual debut for the Pilots, while the Panthers improved to 3-2 on the young season.

After Georgia State pulled out a hard-fought doubles point, the Pilots picked up singles wins from seniors Michail Pervolarakis and Pierre Garcia. Freshman Tom Hann then posted a comeback, three-set win to tie the score at 3-3. Quentin Coulaud outlasted Mathieu Garcia at No. 2 singles 6-4 in the third set to clinch the win for the Panthers.

"Starting off with a very tough team put us into the fire right off the bat," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "We didn't play bad, but we lost a lot of close big points. Georgia State already had four tough matches under their belt and I think that experience helped them on crucial points. We had a match point to take the doubles point that we didn't convert and it created a very slim margin for error thereafter."

Pervolarakis and senior Alex Wallace cruised at No. 1 doubles with a 6-1 win. After Georgia State won at No. 3 doubles, the point came down to the No. 2 position where Mathieu Garcia and Jamie Fisher faced off against the No. 56-ranked tandem of Kevin Huynh and Giles Hussey, where the latter came back for the 7-5 win.

Pervolarakis, ranked No. 18 nationally for singles, cruised over Andrei Andrukhou at the top of the lineup by a 6-2, 6-2 margin. Pierre Garcia also comfortably defeated Jack MacFarlane at the No. 3 spot 6-2, 7-5. Hann, in his Pilot dual debut recorded a 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 gritty win against Hussey at No. 6 position.

"Tom fought really well at number six which was a big bright spot," Gross said. "There is absolutely no question we needed a test like this. It hurts to not pass the test, but this will serve us well in a very tough stretch we have coming up."

Portland will face another stiff challenge next weekend at Wake Forest Regional of the ITA Kick-off Weekend. The Pilots will face Vanderbilt on Friday at 11 a.m. (PT) and then either Wake Forest or Old Dominion on Saturday.

Georgia State 4, Portland 3
Eugene, Ore. (Student Tennis Center)
January 20, 2018

Singles
1. #18 Michail Pervolarakis (POR) def. Andrei Andrukhou (GSU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Quentin Coulaud (GSU) def. Mathieu Garcia (POR) 7-6, 2-6, 6-4
3. Pierre Garcia (POR) def. Jack MacFarlane (GSU) 6-2, 7-5
4. Sebastian Acuna (GSU) def. Alex Wallace (POR) 6-2, 6-4
5. Kevin Huynh (GSU) def. Carlos Donat (POR) 6-3, 6-0
6. Tom Hann (POR) def. Giles Hussey (GSU) 4-6, 7-6, 6-2

Doubles
1. Pervolarakis/Wallace (POR) def. Andrukhou/Coulaud (GSU) 6-1
2. #56 Huynh/Hussey (GSU) def. M. Garcia/Jamie Fisher (POR) 7-5
3. Acura/Andrei Duarte (GSU) def. P. Garcia/Hann (POR) 6-2

Order of Finish: Singles (1,4,5,3,6,2), Doubles (1,3,2)