PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland men's tennis picked up its second straight victory with a 5-2 defeat of crosstown rival Portland State on Saturday at the Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center.
Portland was dominant in singles action, winning five of the six matches in straight sets, after dropping a the doubles point.

The Vikings (2-2) earned wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles spots after Portland's No. 1 tandem of Luka Vukovic and Nikolas Tvedt won by a 7-5 margin.

"We had a really good performance at No. 1 one doubles today, but really struggled in the other spots," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Give Portland State credit because they played well. I thought we bounce back well for singles."

Vukovic evened the score with a 6-3, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles against Hembo Mathiasen and then Oscar Brown put the Pilots ahead with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1 versus Jan Semerak. Nicolas Ocana closed out the first wave of singles with a 7-6, 6-2 win against Andrea Brignacca at the No. 2 spot

Nikola Keremedchiev provided the clinching point with a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 win over Simon Kuszynski at No. 5 singles and then Maxim Groysman added on by beating Hubert Theriault 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4.

Portland State's Luka Jovanovic capped the scoring with a win at No. 6 singles.

"It's good to get one of these under our belts," Gross said. "We were in a little bit of trouble and had to figure it out. There are things all the way down the line in singles that we can tighten up before we get into the meat of our schedule in a couple of weeks, but I'm glad to get through today and look forward to some tough challenges coming up."

Portland will next be in action with a road trip to the Washington Huskies on Friday, Feb. 23 at 1 p.m. The Pilots will then return home to host Eastern Washington on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. and Montana State on Sunday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m.

Portland 5, Portland State 2
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center)
February 10, 2024

Singles
1. Oscar Brown (POR) def. Jan Semerak (PSU) 6-3, 6-4
2. Nicolas Ocana (POR) def. Andrea Brignacca (PSU) 7-6 (3), 6-2
3. Luka Vukovic (POR) def. Hembo Mathiasen (PSU) 6-3, 6-2
4. Maxim Groysman (POR) def. Hubert Theriault (PSU) 6-2, 7-5
5. Nikola Keremedchiev (POR) def. Simon Kuszynski (PSU) 6-3, 6-1
6. Luka Jovanovic (PSU) def. Nikolas Tvedt (POR) 7-6 (3), 7-5

Doubles
1. Vukovic/Tvedt (POR) def. Semerak/Brignacca (PSU) 7-5
2. Kuszynski/Mathiasen (PSU) def. Brown/Stefan Skobelev (POR) 6-4
3. Theriault/Jovanovic (PSU) def. Ocana/Groysman (POR) 6-4

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