Box Score LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The young Portland Pilots men's tennis team took an experienced Northern Arizona squad to the brink, but the Lumberjacks held on for a 4-3 win in a neutral site match at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

Portland once again played five true freshmen and a sophomore as senior Carlos Donat missed his third straight match to start the season due to injury. The Big Sky Conference favorite Lumberjacks (1-0) used a lineup with four seniors and were able to pull out the narrow win.

NAU claimed the doubles point to open the match with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. Pilot freshmen Sema Pankin and Issa Yoshida pulled out a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles.

Portland took a 2-1 lead as freshman Leo Hibi and sophomore Tom Hann won comfortably at the No. 6 and No. 3 positions, respectively.

Freshman Eleftherios Neos also pulled out an impressive 7-6, 6-4 victory at No. 4 singles to give the Pilots three points, but NAU tied the score with wins at the top two positions.

The clinching match came at No. 5 singles where Pilot freshman Issa Yoshida battled NAU's Facundo Tumosa. After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, Yoshida won the second 6-4, but Facundo clinched by taking the third by a 6-3 margin.

"The match basically had everything except a win for us," head coach Aaron Gross said. "It was a great eye-opening experience for our young guys. We played a very experienced and very energetic team. There were planes flying overhead and tons of energy on the courts. It came down to the very last set of the very last match. Leo and Tom put us in a position to get the victory even after we dropped the doubles point. Lefty had a good battle to get us one match from victory. I really understand that these are the types of experiences that we must go through to become a great team eventually, but it's never fun to lose. This was probably the second-best experience we could have had aside from winning. I'm looking forward to see how we bounce back tomorrow after a tough match today."

Portland will take on UNLV tomorrow at 11 a.m. at the Fertitta Tennis Complex to complete the road trip.

Northern Arizona 4, Portland 3
Las Vegas, Nev. (Fertitta Tennis Complex)
Jan. 26, 2019

Singles
1. Tim Handel (NAU) def. Sema Pankin (POR) 7-5, 7-6
2. Lucas Taylor (NAU) def. Nicklas Oberg (POR) 7-5, 6-2
3. Tom Hann (POR) def. Thomas Fisher (NAU) 7-5, 6-2
4. Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. Chris Steele (NAU) 7-6, 6-4
5. Facundo Tumosa (NAU) def. Issa Yoshida (POR) 7-6, 4-6, 6-3
6. Leo Hibi (POR) def. Ruben Montano (NAU) 6-4, 6-2

Doubles
1. Handel/Montano (NAU) def. Neos/Hann (POR) 6-3
2. Pankin/Yoshida (POR) def. Taylor/Tumosa (NAU) 6-3
3. Fisher/Steele (NAU) def. Hibi/Oberg (POR) 6-3