PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Pilots men's tennis team opens West Coast Conference Play this week with a home match against the San Diego Toreros and a road match against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The match against San Diego will take place on Thursday, Mar. 25 at the Louisiana-Pacfic Tennis Center in Portland, Ore. at 10 a.m. while the match against Gonzaga will be at the Stevens Center in Spokane, Wash. on Saturday, Mar. 27 at 2 p.m. Live stats and video can be found at PortlandPilots.com.

The Pilots are 6-2 on the season after being picked to finish 7^th in the WCC preseason poll. In their most recent matchup, the Pilots took down the Montana Grizzlies 5-2. The Pilots took the first point after winning the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches and went on to win four of the six singles matches. Sema Pankin and Nikolas Tvedt, most notably, each earned their fifth singles win of the year in the No. 1 and No. 5 slot, respectively.

The Toreros are 5-5 on the year and were picked to finish second in the WCC. They also had two players selected to the 2020-21 All-WCC Preseason Team in August Holmgren and Gui Osorio. They have played two conference opponents so far this year and beaten them both. They took down the Saint Mary's Gaels back on Feb. 20 by a score of 6-1 and earned a 5-2 victory against the San Francisco Dons on Mar. 19, their most recent match.

Portland has only beaten San Diego once in their 13 matchups. That win came on Apr. 1, 2017, the same year that the Pilots took first in the WCC. Since then, the Toreros have come out on top in the last four meetings, most recently on Feb. 3, 2019 by a score of 6-1. The two teams did not play one another in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Zags, meanwhile, are off to a strong start at 11-3 this year. They were picked to finish fifth in the WCC and are opening conference play with their match against the Pilots. Most recently, the Bulldogs earned two wins on Saturday, Mar. 20 over Nebraska Omaha. Gonzaga took the first match 4-0 before beating the Mavericks 4-3 in the second match.

Portland has historically dominated this series, posting a 23-1 record against Gonzaga dating back to 2000. That one loss, however, came in their most recent matchup on Apr. 20, 2019 in Spokane. That match snapped the Pilots 23-match win streak over the Zags.

After this weekend, the Pilots will be back in Portland for a midweek match against the BYU Cougars. That match is set for Thursday, Apr. 1 at 11 a.m. Live video and stats can be found at PortlandPilots.com.