PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland men's tennis improved to 8-0 at the Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center this season following a 4-0 sweep of Saint Mary's Saturday in West Coast Conference action. The Pilots improve to 8-5 overall and 3-1 in league play, while the Gaels fall to 6-9 and 1-2 in conference.

"What a difference a week makes," Portland head coach Aaron Gross said. "One week ago, we lost to LMU and the next day they lost at Saint Mary's. Today we handled Saint Mary's fairly easily."

The Pilots were dominant from start-to-finish and gained the early momentum by taking the doubles point. The No. 3 tandem of Oscar Brown and Stefan Skobelev won 6-3 and then Nicolas Ocana and Nikola Keremedchiev clinched 6-4 at No. 2.

Portland needed just the first wave of singles to secure the win as Brown, Ocana and Luka Vukovic won in straight sets at the top three positions.

Brown beat Carlos Ramos 6-2 ,6-2 at No. 1, Ocana disposed of Diego Jarry 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 and Vukovic provided the clincher 6-2, 7-5 over Thibaud Maxant at No. 3.
 
"I think we had a really solid doubles performance today which got us going," Gross said. "Then the top three guys upped their level. Ocana played a very good match, while Luka and Oscar both came back after fairly emotional wins two days ago and kept their level high. Saint Mary's decided they would like to clinch the match once one team got to four, so our other three singles players didn't get much action, but they were ready to go."

Portland will be back in action next weekend Friday at UC Davis and then on Saturday at Pacific.

"Our conference is so much about home court," Gross noted. "Everybody has their own little advantages and comforts, and it takes a big effort to figure out how to overcome that. What made last year special was that we won three out of the five conference road contests. Only San Diego and Pepperdine have been able to have those kind of road records in recent history. We have a couple more chances coming up."

Portland 4, Saint Mary's 0
Portland, Ore. (Louisiana-Pacific Tennis Center)
March 30, 2024

Singles
1. Oscar Brown (POR) def. Carlos Ramos (SMC) 6-2, 6-2
2. Nicolas Ocana (POR) def. Diego Jarry (SMC) 6-1, 6-1
3. Luka Vukovic (POR) def. Thibaud Maxant (SMC) 6-2, 7-5
4. Maxim Groysman (POR) vs. Paulo Etchecoin (SMC) 2-0, unfinished
5. Nikola Keremedchiev (POR) vs. Pierre Lieutaud (SMC) 0-0, unfinished
6. Stefan Skobelev (POR) vs. Felipe Rincon (SMC) 0-0, unfinished

Doubles
1. Vukovic/Nikolas Tvedt (POR) vs. Jarry/Etchecoin (SMC) 5-4, unfinished
2. Ocana/Keremedchiev (POR) def. Maxant/Moysan (SMC) 6-4
3. Brown/Skobelev (POR) def. Greco/Ramos (SMC) 6-3

Match Notes:
Saint Mary's 6-9, 1-2 WCC
Portland 8-5, 3-1 WCC
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,1,3)
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