PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland men's tennis defeated the Portland State Vikings for the second time this year with Saturday's 7-0 sweep at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center. The Vikings replaced Northern Arizona on the schedule after the Lumberjacks were unable to get to Portland due to inclement weather. The Pilots (5-3) have now won three straight, while the Vikings drop to 5-5 overall.

Portland secured the doubles point with wins at the top two lineup positions. Sema Pankin and Nikolas Tvedt clinched with a 6-3 win at No. 1 after Eleftherios Neos and Issa Yoshida cruised to a 6-2 win at No. 2.

The Pilots then took five of the six singles matches in straight sets. Neos breezed to a 6-1, 6-2 win over Andrea Brignacca at No. 2. Pankin then knocked off Jan Semerak 6-4 ,6-4 before Tvedt clinched the overall match with a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3.

Freshman Fabian Gusic produced a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 5 and then Yoshida pulled out a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 6. Maxim Groysman then closed the scoring with a 10-3 win in the super tiebreaker at No. 5.

"It was disappointing not to get to play Northern Arizona because of the weather," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "We were eager to play a match, so it was good that Portland State was willing to come over again. I think we played better than we did last Sunday. Lefty really set the tone today in doubles and singles. He was super sharp and I think most of the guys followed suit. Fabian and Issa also had nice wins in singles. We will spend a little time trying to get healthy and get ourselves ready for a good trip to Albuquerque next weekend to play a couple of solid teams."

The Pilots return to action with a pair of matches next weekend hosted at New Mexico. Portland and the host Lobos meet at 2 p.m. on Friday and then the Pilots take on Rice on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Portland 7, Portland State 0
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
February 25, 2023


Singles competition
1. #93 Sema Pankin (POR) def. SEMERAK,JAN (PSU-M) 6-4, 6-4
2. Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. BRIGNACCA,ANDREA (PSU-M) 6-1, 6-2
3. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) def. JOVANOVIC,LUKA (PSU-M) 6-3, 6-3
4. Maxim Groysman (POR) def. MATHIASEN,JONAS (PSU-M) 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 1-0 (10-3)
5. Fabian Gusic (POR) def. GRUENIG,GREGORY (PSU-M) 6-1, 6-0
6. Issa Yoshida (POR) def. ZUELLIG,ANDRIN (PSU-M) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles competition
1. Sema Pankin/Nikolas Tvedt (POR) def. SEMERAK,JAN/GRUENIG,GREGORY (PSU-M) 6-3
2. Eleftherios Neos/Issa Yoshida (POR) def. KUSZYNSKI,SIMON/MATHIASEN,JONAS (PSU-M) 6-2
3. BRIGNACCA,ANDREA/JOVANOVIC,LUKA (PSU-M) def. Fabian Gusic/Maxim Groysman (POR) 6-3

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