Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland men's tennis team defeated the visiting Loyola Marymount Lions with a 5-0 sweep in West Coast Conference action Friday at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The Lions entered the match with a perfect 3-0 WCC record. Portland has now won two matches in a row and improved to 2-3 in league play.
The Pilots have battled numerous injuries throughout the season and have regularly played six true freshmen in recent weeks. Friday's lineup featured five true freshmen and a sophomore, with all six players having major contributions.
"In all honesty, when I'm driving to the match in the morning I'm not even sure who is going to be healthy enough to play," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "So our expectations going into the match are that we are going to compete our butts off and see where the chips land. We have found some good doubles combinations that are working right now so that has been nice to get off to an early start."
Freshmen Sema Pankin and Eleftherios Neos picked up an impressive win over the No. 32-ranked doubles tandem in the nation, Nick Borchenko and Diego Nava. The Pilot duo won by a 6-4 margin. Fellow freshmen Leo Hibi and Issa Yoshida then clinched the point with a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles.
The top of the singles lineup was a battle from the start. Sophomore Tom Hann lost the first three games to Nava at No. 3 singles, but then won 11 straight games and would score a 6-3, 6-1 victory.
"Tom again really set the stage with how strong he played to get an early singles point on the board," Gross noted.
Freshman Nicklas Oberg then had an epic battle with Borchenko at No. 2 singles. After dropping the first set 6-3, he won 6-2 in the second and the match went to a third set tiebreaker. Oberg won the first five points and would go on to win 7-2 and give Portland a 3-0 lead.
Pankin and nationally-ranked Lukas Moenter also went the distance at the No. 1 position. Moenter served for the match late in the third set, but Pankin broke him both times to force a tiebreaker. Moenter then nearly played spoiler as Pankin led 5-1, but he would have to score the final three points to win it 8-6 and clinch the overall match for the Pilots.
Neos capped the scoring with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Lucas Moreno at the No. 4 spot.
"I don't think Nick or Sema played their best tennis," Gross added. "But for both to beat very experienced college players at the top of the lineup in a third set tiebreak was an excellent effort. Lefty (Neos) also continues a really nice run in doubles and singles."
Portland will return to the court tomorrow to host the Pepperdine Waves at 11:30 a.m. The match will be played at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis center with live video and scoring available at PortlandPilots.com.
Portland 5, Loyola Marymount 0
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
April 5, 2019
Singles
1. Sema Pankin (POR) def. #108 Lukas Moenter (LMU) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6)
2. Nicklas Oberg (POR) def. Nick Borchenko (LMU) 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2)
3. Tom Hann (POR) def. Diego Nava (LMU) 6-3, 6-1
4. Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. Lucas Moreno (LMU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Issa Yoshida (POR) vs. Ethan Prost (LMU) 2-2, unfinished
6. Leo Hibi (POR) vs. Austin Di Giulio (LMU) unfinished
Doubles
1. Neos/Pankin (POR) def. #32 Borchenko/Nava (LMU) 6-4
2. Hann/Oberg (POR) vs. Moenter/Thien Nguyen (LMU) 5-6, unfinished
3. Hibi/Yoshida (POR) def. Ryan Brown/Prost (LMU) 6-3
Match Notes:
Loyola Marymount 5-11, 3-1 WCC
Portland 7-10, 2-3 WCC
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (3,2,1,4)
