PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland Pilots cruised to a 7-0 sweep over crosstown rival Portland State on Sunday in the team's 2022 home-opener at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots did not drop a set in picking up their first win of the dual season.

Portland swept the doubles after Oscar Brown and Nicklas Oberg won at love at No. 3 and Leo Hibi and Sema Pankin clinched with a 6-1 win at No. 2. Nikolas Tvedt and Julien Penzlin held on for a tiebreak win at the top of the doubles lineup.

Pankin gave the Pilots a 2-0 lead with a 7-5, 6-3 win against Nils Plutat at No. 1 singles. Penzlin then held off Tommy Hsu by a 6-2, 7-6 margin and Tvedt clinched the team win with a 7-5, 7-6 victory over Oliver Richards at No. 3.

The bottom of the singles lineup dominated. Brown defeated Sam De Vries 6-1, 6-4, Oberg didn't drop a single game in his sweep of Otto Holtari and Hibi knocked off Andrew Vu with scores of 6-0, 6-1.

"Today wasn't a super clean match, but one of our team's biggest strengths is definitely depth," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "We have lots of guys that can step in when needed. Lefty (Neos) is gone to compete at the Davis Cup and we have had a couple other guys pretty banged up. The guys at the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 positions stepped right in and took care of business. Oscar got his first dual match victory today which is always exciting, and we got our first team win of the season. We have had a tough schedule, so I don't think 1-4 is indicative of our level, but we still must come out here every day and prove it. Today was a good start."

The Pilots will take a break before returning to host the Montana State Bobcats on Friday, March 10 at 10 a.m. All Portland home matches will have live video and live scoring links available at PortlandPilots.com.

Portland 7, Portland State 0
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
February 20, 2022

Singles
1. Sema Pankin (POR) def. Nils Plutat (PSU) 7-5, 6-3
2. Julien Penzlin (POR) def. Tommy Hsu (PSU) 6-2, 7-6 (4)
3. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) def. Oliver Richards (PSU) 7-5, 7-6 (3)
4. Oscar Brown (POR) def. Sam De Vries (PSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Nicklas Oberg (POR) def. Otto Holtari (PSU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Leo Hibi (POR) def. Andrew Vu (PSU) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles
1. Tvedt/Penzlin (POR) def. Plutat/Richards (PSU) 7-6 (4)
2. Hibi/Pankin (POR) def. De Vries/Hsu (PSU) 6-1
3. Brown/Oberg (POR) def. Vu/Holtari (PSU) 6-0

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