WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Vanderbilt defeated the Portland Pilots by a 4-0 margin in the opening match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend regional hosted at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.

"We played very tentative doubles and that carried over to an extremely slow start in singles," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "That is a bad combo against an SEC team who has seen plenty of tough competition. We just seem to be struggling to find a rhythm in our first couple of matches. I do not think we have lost the first two matches of the season during our seniors' time here, but we also did not play legitimate Top 50 teams to start any of those seasons."

The Commodores (4-0) secured the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Portland's No. 1 tandem of Michail Pervolarakis and Alex Wallace had pushed to a tiebreaker against Cameron Klinger and Billy Rowe when the point was clinched.

Vanderbilt continued to control the match in singles play, racing out to early leads in the first set at all six positions. The Pilots started to battle back with Mathieu Garcia winning six straight games to take the opening set against Klinger at the No. 2 spot.

In a battle of two ranked singles players, Vanderbilt's No. 50 Daniel Valent pulled out a first set tiebreaker against No. 18 Pervolarakis in a match that went unfinished.

The Commodores posted straight set wins by Baker Newman, Billy Rowe and Maxwell Freeman to clinch the team victory.

"We just need to find a little confidence and trust and I think things will fall into place," Gross said. "No place to start like tomorrow."

Portland will conclude the tournament on Saturday at 11 a.m. (PT) against the loser of this afternoon's match between No. 1 Wake Forest and Old Dominion. Live scoring of that match will be available.
 
Vanderbilt 4, Portland 0
Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest Tennis Complex)
January 26, 2018

Singles
1. #50 Daniel Valent (VANDY) vs. #18 Michail Pervolarakis (POR) 7-6 (7), 0-1, unfinished
2. Cameron Klinger (VANDY) vs. Mathieu Garcia (POR) 3-6, 6-1, 1-1, unfinished
3. Baker Newman (VANDY) def. Pierre Garcia (POR) 6-3, 6-3
4. Billy Rowe (VANDY) def. Alex Wallace (POR) 6-0, 7-6 (4)
5. Maxwell Freeman (VANDY) def. Carlos Donat (POR) 6-3, 6-2
6. George Harwell (VANDY) vs. Tom Hann (POR) 6-3, 5-3, unfinished

Doubles
1. Klinger/Rowe (VANDY) vs. Pervolarakis/Wallace (POR) 6-6, unfinished
2. Lachlan McPhee/Panu Virtanen (VANDY) def. M. Garcia/Jamie Fisher (POR) 6-3
3. Valent/Newman (VANDY) def. P. Garcia/Hann (POR) 6-2

Match Notes:
Portland 0-2
Vanderbilt 4-0

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (3,4,5)
T-1:52 A-101