SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Portland men's tennis team fell to the Santa Clara Broncos by a 4-1 margin on Friday in West Coast Conference action at Degheri Tennis Center. The Pilots fall to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in league play, while the Broncos improve to 10-7 and 2-2 in league.

Maxim Groysman picked up the lone point for the Pilots with a 6-0, 7-6 (3) victory at No. 5 singles against Santiago Hinojosa.

Sema Pankin took the first and was trailing 1-0 in the third at the top of the lineup against Guillaume Dalmasso when the match was clinched.

Pankin and Eleftherios Neos defeated Dalmasso and Arthur Neuhaus 6-3 at No. 1 doubles, but the Broncos won the other two doubles match to take a 1-0 overall lead.

Santa Clara then picked up straight set wins in singles at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 positions to clinch the victory.

"Santa Clara definitely was better than us today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "When we beat them 7-0 last year at home, I didn't think we were significantly better than them, and I don't necessarily think that they are 4-1 better than us this year. We could have competed better in a couple of spots, but in our conference, the home court is such a huge deal. That's why you can see San Diego and Pepperdine kind of taking a jump over the rest of us in that they are able to consistently come into difficult unique conditions and get wins. For the rest of us road wins are hard to come by. We will try to regroup and have a better effort tomorrow. Generally, I feel like the second day outdoors is usually a better day for us, but we've got to bring it."

Portland returns to action on Saturday against the San Francisco Dons. The match begins at noon and will be played at Goldman Tennis Center.

Santa Clara 4, Portland 1
Santa Clara, Calif. (Degheri Tennis Center)
March 31, 2023

Singles
1. Guillaume Dalmasso (SCU) vs. Sema Pankin (POR) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0, unfinished
2. Arthur Neuhaus (SCU) def. Eleftherios Neos (POR) 6-3, 6-1
3. Christian Lerby (SCU) def. Nicolas Ocana (POR) 6-4, 6-1
4. Mann Shah (SCU) def. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) 6-3, 6-1
5. Maxim Groysman (POR) def. Santiago Hinojosa (SCU) 6-0, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Jack Pulliam (SCU) vs. Issa Yoshida (POR) 6-4, 3-4, unfinished

Doubles
1. Pankin/Neos (POR) def. Neuhaus/Dalmasso (SCU) 6-3
2. Lerby/Pulliam (SCU) def. Ocana/Tvedt (POR) 6-3
3. Shah/Hinojosa (SCU) def. Yoshida/Cade Fernando (POR) 6-2

Match Notes:
Portland 7-7, 1-2 WCC
Santa Clara 10-7, 2-2 WCC
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (2,4,5,3)
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