SPOKANE, Wash. – Portland dropped a 4-2 decision to Gonzaga in a West Coast Conference road tennis match on Saturday at the Stevens Center. The Pilots fall to 11-9 overall and 5-4 in league play and will now prepare for next week's WCC Championships in San Diego.

Portland played without Nicolas Ocana who sat out with an injury, but the Pilots still battled throughout the lineup.

Portland's No. 1 doubles tandem of Sema Pankin and Eleftherios Neos posted a 6-4 win, but the Bulldogs secured the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.

Pankin, ranked No. 100 nationally in singles, picked up his eighth consecutive win at the No. 1 spot and with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Sasha Trkulja and improved to 6-1 against WCC opponents this spring. Portland also got a singles win at No. 2 from fellow senior Eleftherios Neos in straight sets against Oliver Andersson.

Freshman Fabian Gusic was close to picking up a win at No. 6 with a 5-2 lead in the third set against Gus Krauel, but Gonzaga clinched with straight set wins at the No. 3-5 positions.

"Both of our teams are pretty banged up," said Portland head coach Aaron Gross. "We had to pull a pretty significant player in our lineup out before the match just to make sure that he has a better chance to be healthy for next week's conference tournament. We continue to struggle with the doubles. At the end of the day when you look at the scoreboard, you can see that was probably the difference. Sema and Lefty have just been machines during this end of the season run. I hope the guys coming back appreciate the level of consistency they are finding and understand that it didn't happen by accident. They grind every summer and hardly ever took a practice off. They're going to be sorely missed. I'm hoping some of our younger guys can step into those spots, but those are very big shoes to fill that will require a lot of hard work."

The 2023 WCC Championships will be hosted at the Aztec Tennis Complex in San Diego on April 27-29. The Pilot men have been locked into the No. 4 seed and will open the tournament against the No. 5 seed (TBA) on Thursday at 1 p.m. The winner will move on to face the No. 1 seed in Friday's semifinals.

Gonzaga 4, Portland 2
Spokane, Wash. (Stevens Center)
April 22, 2023

Singles
1. #100 Sema Pankin (POR) def. Sasha Trkulja (GON) 6-4, 6-3
2. Eleftherios Neos (POR) def. Oliver Andersson (GON) 6-1, 6-3
3. Arthus Bassetiere (GON) def. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) 6-0, 7-5
4. Tom Hann (GON) def. Maxim Groysman (POR) 7-5, 6-1
5. Leon Roider (GON) def. Issa Yoshida (POR) 6-2, 6-3
6. Fabian Gusic (POR) vs. Gus Krauel (GON) 3-6, 6-2, 5-2, unfinished

Doubles
1. Pankin/Neos (POR) def. Trkulja/Andersson (GON) 6-4
2. Roider/Bassetiere (GON) def. Gusic/Tvedt (POR) 6-4
3. Hann/Krauel (GON) def. Cade Fernando/Yoshida (POR) 6-4

Match Notes:
Portland 11-9, 5-4 WCC
Gonzaga 9-11, 4-5 WCC
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (2,3,5,1,4)