PORTLAND, Ore. – After dropping the doubles point, Portland men's tennis was dominant in singles to earn a 6-1 victory over the Montana Grizzlies Friday at Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center. The Pilots improve to 5-3 overall and a perfect 5-0 in home matches this year.

The Grizzlies (8-5) grabbed the early lead with tight wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles positions after Portland's No. 3 duo of Oscar Brown and Stefan Skobelev won by a 6-1 margin.

Portland bounced back and cruised to victory by winning all six singles matches, five in straight sets.

Luka Vukovic put the Pilots on the board with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles versus Guillermo Martin. Brown quickly followed at No. 1 by defeating Baltazar Wiger-Nordas 6-1, 6-4. The first wave of singles was completed with Nicolas Ocana coming back for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory against Tom Bittner at the No. 2 position.

Maxim Groysman provided the clinching point with a 6-1, 6-2 win against Chris Zhang at No. 4. Nikola Keremedchiev and Skobelev capped the scoring with wins at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

"I was really happy how we competed in singles today," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "Luka probably played his best dual match of the season and it was great to see Ocana get gritty after losing the first set and come back for the win. Montana is well-coached, always plays good doubles and today was not an exception. The positive from our doubles struggles today was testing ourselves being down that point going into singles. There's always going to be a few matches each season where you drop the doubles point and really must show your character. I think we did a good job with that today. Hopefully we'll play some better doubles on Sunday which can get us off on better footing."

The Pilots will return to action on Sunday with their West Coast Conference opener against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The match is set for an 11 a.m. start at Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center.

Portland 6 Montana 1
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center)
March 15, 2024

Singles
1. Oscar Brown (POR) def. Baltazar Wiger-Nordas (UM) 6-1, 6-4
2. Nicolas Ocana (POR) def. Tom Bittner (UM) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
3. Luka Vukovic (POR) def. Guillermo Martin (UM) 6-2, 6-2
4. Maxim Groysman (POR) def. Chris Zhang (UM) 6-1, 6-2
5. Nikola Keremedchiev (POR) def. Dragos Bucurescu (UM) 6-1, 6-2
6. Stefan Skobelev (POR) def. Josh Watkins (UM) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles
1. Martin/Bucurescu (UM) def. Vukovic/Nikolas Tvedt (POR) 6-4
2. Bittner/Zhang (UM) def. Ocana/Keremedchiev (POR) 7-5
3. Brown/Skobelev (POR) def. Moritz Stoeger/Wiger-Nordas (UM) 6-1

Match Notes:
Montana 8-5
Portland 5-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (3,1,2,4,5,6)
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