Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – The Portland men's tennis team cruised to a 6-1 win against the Utah State Aggies in the team's home-opener Sunday at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots improve to 1-1 on the season, while the Aggies fall to 0-2.

Portland took a competitive doubles point with Sema Pankin and Eleftherios Neos clinching in a tiebreaker at the No. 1 position. Nicolas Ocana and Nikolas Tvedt won 6-2 at No. 2 doubles previously.

The Pilots then took control with the top three singles players performing well. Neos defeated Bodin Zarkovic 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, followed by No. 47-ranked Pankin beating David Cierny 6-4, 7-6 at the top of the lineup.

Ocana provided the match-clinching point with a comeback, three-set win against Stijn Paardekooper 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 singles.

Portland also earned straight set singles victories from Oscar Brown and Maxim Groysman at No. 4 and No. 6 singles, respectively.

"It is never any fun to lose, but the close loss Friday night gave us an opportunity to see how this group was going to respond after some adversity," said UP head coach Aaron Gross. "I think we came through pretty well today. We are still a bit inconsistent in doubles. I think Lefty played really solid tennis today and Sema beat one of the best players in the mountain region. Max had his first win as a Pilot in a nice effort. Obviously, it's still really early in the season and we know there will be some ups and downs, but this was a good test to see how we might respond to those situations."

Portland will next take the court as host of crosstown rival Portland State on Saturday at 10 a.m. The match will have live video and scoring available at PortlandPilots.com.

Portland 6, Utah State 1
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
January 22, 2023


Singles
1. #47 Sema Pankin (POR) def. David Cierny (USU) 6-4, 7-6 (9)
2. Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. Bodin Zarkovic (USU) 6-4, 6-3
3. Nicolas Ocana (POR) def. Stijn Paardekooper (USU) 5-7, 6-1, 6-1
4. Oscar Brown (POR) def. Nuno Pinheiro (USU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Roko Savin (USU) def. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8)
6. Maxim Groysman (POR) def. Javier Ruiz (USU) 7-6 (2), 6-3

Doubles
1. Sema Pankin/Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. David Cierny/Bodin Zarkovic (USU) 7-6 (3)
2. Nikolas Tvedt/Nicolas Ocana (POR) def. Stijn Paardekooper/Nuno Pinheiro (USU) 6-2
3. Roko Savin/Javier Ruiz (USU) def. Issa Yoshida/Cade Fernando (POR) 6-4

Match Notes:
Utah State 0-2
Portland 1-1
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (2,1,3,4,5,6)
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