ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Portland men's tennis fell 4-2 to Rice on Saturday afternoon at the McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium. The Pilots drop to 5-5 overall, while Rice improves to 5-7.

Rice secured the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and No. 3, while Nicolas Ocana and Nikolas Tvedt teamed up for a 6-2 victory at No. 2 for the Pilots.

Sema Pankin and Eleftherios Neos each won singles matches at the No. 1 and No. 2 lineup positions, respectively, for Portland. Rice was earned points at the No. 3-5 positions to clinch the match. Issa Yoshida was locked in a battle and trailing 2-1 in the third set to Kabeer Kapasi when the match was clinched.

"We played much better today than yesterday," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "I think we competed better as well. The doubles point I think really hurt us. That's the one place where we should've won. Lefty and Sema did a nice job and singles and everyone else competed well. We just couldn't get over the hump at the end. I think this trip will serve us well when we get to road trips in conference play. The conditions were really difficult and the teams were very solid."

The Pilots next take the court at Washington on Friday, March 10 at 4 p.m. Visit PortlandPilots.com for live coverage links.

Rice 4, Portland 2
Albuquerque, N.M. (McKinnon Family Tennis Stadium)
March 4, 2023

Singles
1. #93 Sema Pankin (POR) def. Emir Sendogan (RICE) 6-1, 6-1
2. Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. Trinity Grear (RICE) 7-6, 6-2
3. Wes Barnett (RICE) def. Nicolas Ocana (POR) 6-2, 6-3
4. Santiago Navarro (RICE) def. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) 7-5, 7-6 (4)
5. Campbell Salmon (RICE) def. Maxim Groysman (POR) 7-5, 6-4
6. Kabeer Kapasi (RICE) vs. Issa Yoshida (POR) 6-3, 6-7, 2-1, unfinished

Doubles
1. Barnett/Grear (RICE) def. Pankin/Neos (POR) 6-4
2. Ocana/Tvedt (POR) def. Navarro/Salmon (RICE) 6-2
3. Kapasi/Eduardo Morais (RICE) def. Fabian Gusic/Yoshida (POR) 6-3

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