PROVO, Utah – Portland men's tennis opened West Coast Conference play with a 4-2 road loss to the BYU Cougars on Saturday afternoon at the BYU Outdoor Courts. BYU improves to 6-5 on the season, while the Pilots fall to 3-6 overall.

Portland struggled to adjust to the conditions and dropped the doubles point with 6-3 and 6-1 losses at the No. 1 and No. 2 positions.

The Pilots came to life in singles as freshman Julien Penzlin continued his hot run with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Mateo Vereau at No. 3. He has now won six consecutive singles matches.

Sema Pankin pulled out a 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 win at the top of the lineup for Portland's second point and has now won four straight.

BYU picked up straight set wins at No. 2 and No. 5 and then clinched with Dominik Jakovljevic outlasting Issa Yoshida by a 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 margin at No. 4 singles. Portland's Nicolas Ocana was ahead 3-2 in the third set over Alex Lin at No. 6 singles when the match was decided.

"Just very disappointed in the result today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Playing at Provo has always been difficult and almost the ultimate challenge in the West Coast Conference. I thought we had done everything right in preparation to get a win today, but I'm going to be beating myself up wondering what stone we didn't leave unturned. We did not play well today and with BYU leaving the conference, this was our last chance to beat them on their home courts. We let that chance slip out of our hands today."

Portland will look to bounce back with a non-conference road match at Utah State on Sunday at 9 a.m. (PT).

BYU 4, Portland 2
Provo, Utah (BYU Outdoor Courts)
March 19, 2022
 
Singles
1. Sema Pankin (POR) def. Wally Thayne (BYU) 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1
2. Matheus Ferreira Lei (BYU) def. Eleftherios Neos (POR) 6-4, 6-4
3. Julien Penzlin (POR) def. Mateo Vereau (BYU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Dominik Jakovljevic (BYU) def. Issa Yoshida (POR) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2
5. Otto Schreiner (BYU) def. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
6. Alex Lin (BYU) vs. Nicolas Ocana (POR) 3-6, 6-1, 2-3 unfinished

Doubles
1. Thayne/Tennyson Whiting (BYU) def. Neos/Yoshida (POR) 6-3
2. Ferreira Lei/Vereau (BYU) def. Pankin/Tvedt (POR) 6-1
3. Schreiner/Lin (BYU) vs. Nicklas Oberg/Oscar Brown (POR) 3-2 unfinished

Match Notes
Order of finish: Singles – 3,2,5,1,4; Doubles – 2,1