PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland men's tennis team heads to Las Vegas for a pair of non-conference dual matches this weekend. The Pilots will take on Northern Arizona on Saturday at 11 a.m. and then meet host UNLV on Sunday at 11 a.m. Both matches will be played at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

The Pilots (1-1) are coming off a weekend split with a hard-fought loss at Washington followed by a home sweep against Portland State.

The Pilots have featured five true freshmen in the lineup in both matches thus far highlighted by Sema Pankin winning a pair of straight setters.

UNLV finished last season with a 14-10 record and returns three key members of the lineup to the 2019 roster.

"I know our guys are super excited for the weekend," head coach Aaron Gross said. "UNLV and we were just on the outside looking in to qualify for the ITA Kick-off Classic, which is this weekend, so it worked out well that we get to play against each other. Fortunately, most of our players are from places where they could play outside quite a bit during the winter break, so I'm hoping that we won't have as much of an outdoor adjustment. It is never easy to play on an away court against a solid team, but we are looking to get out and challenge ourselves right now."

Northern Arizona was picked to win the Big Sky Conference and returns five seniors to make up a majority of its lineup. The Lumberjack doubles tandem of Ruben Montano and Tim Handel are ranked No. 25 in the ITA Doubles Rankings entering the spring season.

"Northern Arizona is a veteran team and was picked to win their league this year," Gross noted. "They have some experienced players, but from what I've seen from our guys so far, we don't seem too concerned about who is on the other side of the net. I like the fact that they are very developmental-driven individuals and see these matches as opportunities to get better."