Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – In their final home match of the season, the Portland Pilots defeated the Loyola Marymount Lions 5-2. The win puts the Pilots at 9-6 this season and 3-4 in WCC play.
"It was nice to get a win today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Even though we played well against Pepperdine and got a few victories before that match, we still needed to put an actual W on the board."
The Lions came out with lots of energy in the doubles matches and took the point to get things started. LMU beat the Pilots in the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches to make it 1-0 early.
"There wasn't a lot of energy in the building and I think we took that to mean we weren't going to need a lot of mental energy to win," Gross said about the doubles losses.
The Pilots bounced back in the first three singles matches, sweeping lines one through three. Sema Pankin earned his ninth win of the season in No. 1 singles while Eleftherios Neos and Issa Yoshida each earned their seventh wins of the season in the No. 2 and No. 3 slots.
"Sema continued his impressive efforts with a straight set win at No. 1," Gross said. "Lefty (Neos) and Issa both had little bumps in the road in the second set but definitely showed composure by winning in three."
Nicklas Oberg sealed the win for the Pilots in the No. 4 singles match. Oberg took down LMU's Ethan Prost in straight sets 6-1 and 6-3 to earn his fourth win in a row and improve to 5-2 against conference opponents. Nikolas Tvedt earned a win in No. 5 singles and Leo Hibi fell in No. 6 singles to settle the score at 5-2.
"Nick Oberg was our closer again and Nick Tvedt played aggressive tennis until the end and was rewarded with a nice win," Gross said. "I feel like we've had a really nice conference regular season run. I think we really only had one match where we played pretty poorly as a team. Other than that we have completed really well and have grown as the season went on."
The Pilots will play their regular season finale next week against the Saint Mary's Gaels in Moraga, Calif. on Saturday Apr. 24 at 2 p.m. Check PortlandPilots.com for live stat and video options.
Portland 5, Loyola Marymount 2
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana-Pacifc Tennis Center)
April 18, 2021
Singles
- Sema Pankin (UP) def. Diego Nava (LMU) 6-4, 6-2
- Eleftherios Neos (UP) def. Daniel Moreno (LMU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4
- Issa Yoshida (UP) def. Austin Di Giulio (LMU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
- Nicklas Oberg (UP) def. Ethan Prost (LMU) 6-1, 6-3
- Nikolas Tvedt (UP) def. Max Kaiser (LMU) 7-6 (4), 2-6, 1-0 (10)
- Emin Torlic (LMU) def. Leo Hibi (UP) 7-6 (3), 6-4
Doubles
- Moreno/Nava (LMU) def. Neos/Yoshida (UP) 6-4
- Torlic/Prost (LMU) def. Pankin/Tvedt (UP) 6-3
- Oberg/Hibi (UP) vs. Di Giulio/Kaiser (LMU) DNF 3-4
Order of Finish: (Singles: 1,2,3,4,5,6; Doubles: 2,1,3)
