PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland men's tennis team earned a 6-1 victory over No. 70-ranked Montana State Friday at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots improve to 2-4 on the year, while the Bobcats fall to 11-5 overall.

Portland secured the doubles point with hard-fought wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. The Pilot top tandem of Sema Pankin and Eleftherios Neos, ranked No. 49 this week, set the tone with a 6-3 win. Montana State won at No. 2 doubles 6-4, but the duo of Nicolas Ocana and Issa Yoshida pulled off a 7-5 comeback at No. 3 to clinch.

Pankin carried the momentum into singles and cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Daan Van Dijk at the top of the lineup. Neos outlasted Matej Panik 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 singles and then Portland freshman Julien Penzlin pulled out a comeback win to clinch the overall match at the No. 3 spot. Penzlin dropped the opening set to Jamieson Nathan by a 6-2 margin, but evened at love in the second set and then won the final three games of the third set for the 7-5 clinch.

Portland's Nikolas Tvedt and No. 114-ranked Nicolas Ocana won in straight sets at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions, respectively, while Montana State's Brad Buckland picked up the lone point for the Bobcats at No. 4 singles.

"It was pretty much the perfect match for us to start this little run we have coming up," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "They are a good team that competes really hard and makes lots of balls. We definitely felt like we had something to lose if we didn't play our best. I like that there was some pressure today and we came through in tough moments. I think we're going to keep getting more and more comfortable as we compete more through the weeks.

"It was unusual to have that mid-season lull in the schedule that we just had, but there won't be any more of those and I think we will get in a rhythm here pretty quick. Today was definitely a good start as far as competing."

Portland will continue a busy weekend with a Saturday home match against Eastern Washington at 9 a.m. at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots then visit Oregon on Sunday at 11 a.m. Live scoring and video links for both matches are available at PortlandPilots.com.

Portland 6, #70 Montana State 1
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
March 11, 2022

Singles
1. Sema Pankin (POR) def. Daan Van Dijk (MSU) 6-2, 6-1
2. Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. Matej Panik (MSU) 7-5, 6-3
3. Julien Penzlin (POR) def. Jamieson Nathan (MSU) 2-6, 6-0, 7-5
4. Brad Buckland (MSU) def. Issa Yoshida (POR) 6-2, 6-3
5. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) def. Nejc Sitar (MSU) 6-3, 6-4
6. #114 Nicolas Ocana (POR) def. Joaquin Espinoza (MSU) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles
1. #49 Pankin/Neos (POR) def. Panik/Nathan (MSU) 6-3
2. Van Dijk/Sitar (MSU) def. Penzlin/Tvedt (POR) 6-4
3. Ocana/Yoshida (POR) def. Marcos Zelver/Buckland (MSU) 7-5

Match Notes
Montana State 11-5
Portland 2-4
Order of Finish: Singles (1,2,3,4,5,6), Doubles (1,2,3)