PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland women's tennis team won the final three singles matches to pull out a 4-3 win over Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference opener for both schools Friday at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots (6-2, 1-0) have now won five dual matches in a row, while the Broncos fall to 3-4 overall.

"What a great way to start the conference season with a hard-fought match," Portland head coach Susie Campbell said. "Santa Clara is a solid team and they came out playing some great tennis to start out the singles. However, this was a perfect example of a team win with every player contributing for us today."

The bottom of Portland's singles lineup came up big as the Pilots were trailing 3-1 after the first three singles matches were completed.

Freshman Angela Schuster provided the match-clinching point at No. 6 singles, defeating Nadine Del Carmen 6-3, 6-2.

She was put in position to win after sophomore Lourdes Ramalle made quick work of Caitlyn Frankel at the No. 5 position by a 6-1, 6-1 margin.

Freshman Marija Elenova then followed with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 4 singles against Katya Tabachnik. Elenova improved to 9-1 overall with the win and it was her sixth straight dual singles victory.

Schuster and Ramalle extended their winning streaks to six and five matches, respectively.

Portland grabbed the early lead by claiming the doubles point. Sophomore Laura Okazaki and Schuster raced to a 6-2 win at No. 3 doubles and then juniors Jelena Lukic and Anna Oberg cruised to a 6-3 at the No. 1 position to clinch the point.

The Broncos responded by earning straight set wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles spots, and then Maddie Pothoff edged Lukic 7-5 in the third set at the top of the lineup to take a 3-1 lead.

"Our players showed tremendous dedication to the Mission, Vision and Values of our program, as well as to each other today," Campbell said. "This is a hard-working group of student-athletes who are putting everything they have into this team and it showed today in the best possible way. I am very proud of how they represent UP!"

The Pilots will now travel south to face the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday at 1 p.m. (PT) and then Grand Canyon on Monday at 10 a.m.

Portland 4, Santa Clara 3
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
March 1, 2019

Singles
1. Maddie Pothoff (SCU) def. Jelena Lukic (POR) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
2. Elvena Gevargiz (SCU) def. Raphaelle Leblanc (POR) 6-0, 7-5
3. Jamie Schroer (SCU) def. Emily Soares (POR) 6-2, 7-5
4. Marija Elenova (POR) def. Katya Tabachnik (SCU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Lourdes Ramalle (POR) def. Caitlyn Frankel (SCU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Angela Schuster (POR) def. Nadine Del Carmen (SCU) 6-3, 6-2

Doubles
1. Jelena Lukic/Anna Oberg (POR) def. Elvena Gevargiz/Maddie Pothoff (SCU) 6-3
2. Emily Soares/Lourdes Ramalle (POR) vs. Caitlyn Frankel/Katya Tabachnik (SCU) 2-5, unfinished
3. Laura Okazaki/Angela Schuster (POR) def. Nadine Del Carmen/Jamie Schroer (SCU) 6-2

Match Notes:
Santa Clara 3-4, 0-1 WCC
Portland 6-2, 1-0 WCC
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,3,1,5,4,6)