PROVO, Utah – The BYU Cougars held on for a 4-2 victory over a shorthanded Portland Pilots squad in the West Coast Conference men's tennis opener for both programs. The Cougars improved to 8-1 overall with the win, while the Pilots snapped a five-match winning streak and drop to 5-4 overall.

Playing without three key members of the normal lineup due to injury, the Pilots made a close match throughout. Portland was without No. 21-ranked Michail Pervolarakis, Alex Wallace and Tom Hann for the second straight match.

Despite the missing players, the Pilots grabbed the early lead by taking the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches.

Senior Mathieu Garcia claimed Portland's other point with a tough three-set win against Jeffrey Hsu at the No. 1 position.

Senior Pierre Garcia dropped a tough three-setter to John Pearce at No. 2 and Sam Tullis held off junior Carlos Donat with a marathon second set tiebreaker.

Ben Gajardo and Matthew Pearce won in straight sets to close out the scoring for BYU.

"I am really proud of our guys tonight," head coach Aaron Gross said. "We played awesome doubles and had some nice momentum. Unquestionably, BYU is the toughest place to play in the WCC. I thought we fought super hard at every position. Mathieu was a warrior as usual. It is never fun to lose, but this was a tremendously fun place to compete. They had a huge crowd that was crazy supportive of their team. It was just a very fun atmosphere, but the result did not land on our side."

Portland will travel to No. 7 UCLA (10-1) on Friday for a 3:30 p.m. dual match.

Portland, BYU
Provo, Utah (BYU Indoor Tennis Courts)
February 17, 2018

Singles
1. Mathieu Garcia (POR) def. Jeffrey Hsu (BYU) 7-6 (10), 4-6, 6-2
2. John Pearce (BYU) def. Pierre Garcia (POR) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
3. Sam Tullis (BYU) def. Carlos Donat (POR) 6-3, 7-6 (12)
4. Ben Gajardo (BYU) def. Andrew Newell (POR) 6-3, 6-2
5. Matthew Pearce (BYU) def. Jamie Fisher (POR) 6-3, 6-4
6. Jacob Tullis (BYU) vs. Drew Davison (POR) 5-4 unfinished

Doubles
1. Garcia/Garcia (POR) def. Hsu/Pearce (BYU) 6-4
2. Fisher/Donat (POR) def. J. Pearce/Gajardo (BYU) 6-3
3. S. Tullis/David Ball (BYU) def. Newell/Davison (POR) 6-1

Match Notes:
Portland 5-4
BYU 8-1
Order of Finish: Singles (4,3,2,1,5), Doubles (3,2,1)