Box Score EUGENE, Ore. – The Portland men's tennis team gutted out a 4-3 thriller over Cal Poly on Saturday in a neutral site match hosted at the Student Tennis Center on the University of Oregon campus. Issa Yoshida and Leo Hibi won a pair of three-setters to close out the match and help the Pilots improve to 4-1 on the season.

"This was one of those matches that if we had lost would have been a shame because our small band of warriors came through big," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "We dropped the doubles point and then came out firing in singles."

Four of the six singles matches went three sets in the pressure-packed match. Cal Poly took the doubles point, but Eleftherios Neos evened the score with a 6-1, 7-6 win at No. 2 singles over Antoine Noel.

Sema Pankin then gave the Pilots a 2-1 lead with a hard-fought 7-6, 7-5 win at the top of the lineup. Pankin improved to 4-1 on the season at the No. 1 position.

"Lefty had an amazing effort to get a point on the board and then Sema took care of his business as he has been doing," Gross said.

The Mustangs (4-6) re-took the lead with a pair of three-set wins at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. Gary Vardanyan outlasted freshman Nikolas Tvedt at the No. 5 spot by a 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 margin and Joe Leather followed soon after with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Nicklas Oberg at No. 4.

That left it up to Yoshida and Hibi to secure the match for the Pilots and both players were up to the task.

Yoshida dispatched Noah Berry 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 at No. 3 singles to tie it and then Hibi provided the clinching point with a 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 win at the No. 6 position.

"Issa and Leo went all the way to the end and got us home," Gross said. "Leo was cramping the entire third set and just played with sheer heart to get to the end. This was definitely a match that easily could have gone either way, but we will take it."

Cal Poly won the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions, while Pankin and Tvedt cruised to a 6-2 win at the No. 2 position for the Pilots.

Portland will next take the court at Washington on Friday at 5 p.m.

Portland, Cal Poly
Eugene, Ore. (Student Tennis Center)
March 6, 2021

Singles
1. Sema Pankin (UP) def. Alex Stater (CP) 7-6, 7-5
2. Eleftherios Neos (UP) def. Antoine Noel (CP) 6-1, 7-6 (8)
3. Issa Yoshida (UP) def. Noah Berry (CP) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
4. Joe Leather (CP) def. Nicklas Oberg (UP) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
5. Gary Vardanyan (CP) def. Nikolas Tvedt (UP) 7-5, 5-7, 6-2
6. Leo Hibi (UP) def. Fernando Fonseca (CP) 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4
Doubles
1. Leather/Roman Shenkiryk (CP) def. Yoshida/Neos (UP) 6-3
2. Pankin/Tvedt (UP) def. Noel/Berry (CP) 6-2
3. Stater/Vardanyan (CP) def. Hibi/Oberg (UP) 6-4


Order of Finish: (Singles: 2,1,5,4,3,6; Doubles: 2,1,3)